The Midnight Train to Nowhere

[four]

The severe rocking of the little boat in the waves was very damaging to Leila's thinking.

"We're almost there!" C.

"Almost where?"

She almost shouted over the waves, but as it consistently was after they sailed into this storm, her voice was always only to be drowned out by the cacophony of the howling winds, splashing water, and creaking wooden planks.

Clothing soaked in the seawater and feet entirely submerged, she tasted the saltiness persistent in her mouth even when it wasn't open.

Leila had never been on a boat before. No, the Star Fisher was a ship. And that made her uncomfortable enough already even with her spending most of the time on the lower decks sleeping. This was many times worse and the constant irregular rocking from side to side was evidently too much for her to handle.

Head pulsing from dizziness turned pain, Leila stumbled and almost toppled over the edge of the boat, supporting herself against the railing at the latest possible moment.

"Drink. We jump soon."

"We wh-?" She turned around and yelled, only to be interrupted by a chunk of water torn off by the wind from some nearby wave splashing into her face.

"I don't think we have any other options." Japer.

Choking, she nodded and took the vial of liquid from Jasper, grasping it tightly lest it topple over into the waves. Weird to speak of it, but at the moment, the fragmented surface of the dark water actually seems very tempting.

Carefully timing her actions between the violent jerking of the vessel, Leila gulped down the transparent liquid. It tasted of...Leila wasn't sure whether it was the potion that carried the bitterness or just the remnants of the seawater still lingering in her mouth. Seawater didn't sparkle with bubbles, so that part was probably the potion, so she figured.

Then, as a result of only planning as far as the end of that gulp - was tossed off the ship by the next incoming wave.

* * * * *​

Leila kicked around aimlessly, eyes shut tight to combat the stinging saltwater trying to seep in. The remaining air in her ears being squeezed out by the invading sea, what she heard of the thunderstorm above was muffled.

She could still feel her legs. Was it not working? Within seconds she began to panic, mind muddled, only holding on to the precious gulp of breath she took before jumping. Why was nothing happening?

Maybe it took more than drinking the potion for it to work? Leila couldn't be entirely sure if she actually did hear all the instructions correctly - the thunderstorm was a loud enough distraction. Maybe you had to, like, think about something specific for it to work. Like happy memories allowing one to fly in that one old fairy tale.

It was a silly idea, but she was running out of air. Think of what? The ocean, maybe? Be one with the wind and the waves? Or more specific, like...fish? Possibly fish. Think of a fish that you were going to turn into. Gills and fins and whatnot, and the potion will give you that. Maybe. Some kind of…

Just then Leila had to admit that she couldn't name any actual aquatic creatures. Not in this state. And so as she kept squirming in the attempt to fight the currents, her mind struggled to piece together something that had the letters "fish" in it, in hope of it being the right thing to do.

Darkness in every direction. She still dared not open her eyes. Maybe she had sunken deep enough into the ocean already for there to be no light to be seen even with her eyes open. That would be...over two hundred metres, at least. That's absurd. She hoped that…

"Lelia! What are you?"

Uh?

"Looks like I'm an angler fish."

Angler…? She was slightly ashamed of herself of not coming up with that earlier. But now it didn't really matter anymore because she noticed the stinging sensation in her eyes, and the dull drumming in her ears, gone. Leila opened her eyes to see Ran.

More precisely, she saw Ran before she opened her eyes.

"T-transparent...eyelids?"

Leila was too busy trying to figure out what happened to respond to Ran immediately. Frantically she brought her hands in front of her face to see them a pale, translucent light blue. Touching her hair, she felt a collection of smooth lines that felt..slightly gelatinous to the touch.

Only slowly getting an idea of the entire situation, Leila looked up to see the blazing white above her, it's intensity only slightly dampened by the layer of water. Ran. As a mermaid of sorts.

So that's what the potion does.

Leila stuttered a bit, still not entirely certain.

"...j...jellyfish?"

(jellyfish.)

 

[Fox of Spades]

I'm...sinking?

Harper's vision was a mixture of blacks and blues and a dull thumping sound echoed around the inside of his brain. His head throbbed and his entire body felt heavy. The boy could make out muffled sounds and blurry figures, but what he was most aware of was the sweet taste of melon that lingered on his tongue, it reminded him of summer days in Florida.

Where was he? The last thing he recalled was Ace telling them to jump and Toby talking to Cake. After that, a wave crashed into the ship, he downed the last of his potion and was tossed overboard.

The ocean. Harper's eyes went wide with fear, but then he realized that he wasn't drowning. He tried to kick at the water, but instead of feet, he was greeted by an orange tail with white stripes and black markings. "A clown fish?"

"Looks like it," he turned around to see a grinning Luke. The young man had turned part killer whale and was all shiny black tail and pointed teeth. "We better find the others before the current sweeps anyone away. Oh, hey, it looks like...I can't tell."

Harper squinted and while he wasn't quite sure, it looked a lot like Victoria and Jasper? Were those other figures Numair and Sacha? "I think it's them."

"Good, good, c'mon let's go!" And with that Luke shot off like a bullet leaving Harper to wonder if the Hooded Figures had done all of this before. "Sachaaaaa, Gary!" Luke was gaining speed and before he could stop himself, he crashed into Numair and began to apologize.

Harper joined in soon and gave his friends a wave. "This is probably the craziest thing we've done so far." He had a nervous looking smile on his face. "Have you guys done this before?" He was adressing Victoria and the hooded figures now. "It's...amazing."

Luke simply shrugged. "I don't remember, maybe Sacha or Gary do. Anyways, we need to find the others and get to the bus stop. C and I managed to radio a few of the rebels from Orion. A couple of them will be waiting for us." He nodded his head enthusiastically, "it's been awhile since we've seen Moby Dick."

"Wait..." Harper pointed to several dim lights in the distance. "That might be them."

 

[Capt. Blu]

When she jumped, the cold hit her like a blade. The water violently pushed her this way and that, but she kept her eyes and mouth closed, trying to keep her head above water. It was a valiant effort, but she ended up being pulled underwater nonetheless. So, she had to hold her breath.

Ace held her breath until she realized she couldn't breathe any more. The redhead gasped for air, only to cover her mouth when she realized she had opened it. "Oh, hey! I can breathe." Her eyes then opened and she looked around. Well, she sure didn't feel any different. Ace was hoping for a more flashy change. "Boo- oooh!" She opened and closed her hand, staring at her webbed hands that were oddly a dark black color. "I need to find the- No way!" She swam in loops, staring at her newfound shiny black tail. It looked similar to that of a shark's. She had seen enough pictures and movies to recognize it. Now, she was doing spins to see the pointy looking black fin on her back. "Sweeeet!" Ace at this point was ecstatic and had forgotten that raging sea was practically pushing her farther from her group.

Ace's hair was still a bright red to, contrasting with the darker colored fins she had. She apparently was black and red, which made things even cooler. Somehow, in the midst of the change, her hat managed to stay on her head, keeping her hair from floating about in the water. "A black and red shark hehehe sweeet." As she swam forward, the tail movements seeming to come naturally, she looked down to see what she was covered with. A bright red bra top to cover her chest. Gills, fins, webbed hands, and tail were all a check for her. "Woo!" She cheered and then raced off, a little too fast by her surprise. If she hadn't stopped, she would've ran right into the most sparkly ocean creature she had ever seen.

Ace's eyes went wide as she stared in awe at the creature until she realized there was a humanoid body in the midst of all the sparkly-ness. "Leila? Wow! You look soo pretty! And sparkly!" Ace circled around Leila to look at her whole 'attire'. "Wow..." Seeing another glowing light, Ace snapped out of her daze and swam toward the light, realizing it was Ran when she got close enough. "Oh! Ran! Cool!" Ace grinned at the two of them, flashing unnaturally sharp teeth she hadn't noticed yet. Soon enough, she saw Harper and a few of the others. Ace was pretty psyched about being part fish, and not just any fish, but a shark at that, so she began swimming around everyone at a pretty fast pace, trying to see what everyone turned into.

Being a shark started to make her wonder if she'd have similar traits as well...Like would she have the urge to suddenly hunt? Or even go towards the scent of blood! It sounded amazing and yet it did add a little bit of worry since she would be near her friends...she didn't too much mind biting [rainbow]The Crazies[/rainbow].

"So, where we going? It's pretty dark around here and everything looks the same." As she mentioned the dark, Ace swam around Leila and Ran considering they gave off the most light...that and Ace was still mesmerized by Leila.

 

[Gossamer]

​

For the first time in a long time Toby's optimism had gotten the better of him. The moment his body plopped into the water he was shoved into the side of the boat by the currents. He was trapped in this position and attempted to pull himself back onto the boat but to no avail. Every second he spent above the water was used to cough out water and inhale as much air as possible into his lungs before being pushed back underneath. He worried momentarily about his sunflower fading, but that thought was quickly drowned out by his newfound fear of actually drowning.

The boy was making no progress in pulling himself back onto the boat, every muscle was extremely tense as he awkwardly attempted to force himself aboard the already sinking ship.

After about ten more seconds of being shoved into the side of the boat he decided, or rather, allowed the water to force him underneath the boat and into the roaring sea. The sound of thunder only gave the whole ordeal a grim atmosphere. The very moment Toby let the water take control he was thrusted underwater and thrown about like a ragdoll.

The boat wasn't in sight, and neither were any of his allies. In desperation he imagined Victoria or C would dive through the water as if they were lifeguards and pull him to the surface so he may breath the cold, crisp air he had suddenly grown fond of. Maybe even Ace, Niran or Inadi could be capable of such a feat.

As the boy swirled through the rushing water, unsure whether or not he should fear death, he both clung onto the idea of being rescued and regretted having thought of it at the same time. Part of him wanted one of his friends to save him, and the other hoped that they could not see his rather pathetic struggle to control himself underneath the roaring ocean, especially due to the fact that he loved being in the water.

The whole situation was ironic and pitiful.

Every bone in Toby's body was rigid and stiff. All he could do at the moment was keep his mouth shut and conserve the small amount of air left in his lungs. Underneath all the water his cheeks were a bright red. He had lost his sense of direction and no longer had a clue where the surface was, assuming he could swim to it anyways. However, even as his body was hurled violently through the water, he could feel his tense muscles begin to bend and contort, as if he were being given some kind of vigorous massage.

His chest, shoulders and back began to alter in shape, size and position. His squishy, muscly athletic body transformed into that of a smooth and slim build. Toby's face, chest and arms felt as if they were being tightened. Slowly but surely his body began to cease it's violent ragdoll motions through the water.

Not being able to withstand holding his breath any longer, his mouth opened, gasping for air that wasn't there. To Toby's amazement he was actually inhaling deeply and for a moment thought he had found his way to the surface (his eyes had been shut) but the familiar feel of water surrounding him said otherwise.

The boy's eyes opened, and his vision was no longer blurry. In astonishment he observed his webbed hands that now had three fingers on each rather than five and began to lightly rub his shoulders, his skin now excruciatingly smooth. Two holes on both contracted in and out on both sides of his neck, and one tail gently swung back and forth. The feeling of his transformed limbs and gills functioning sent creeped out yet excited shivers down his spine.

Did....he have a spine? His education on sea creatures didn't grant him the luxury of realizing his bodies anatomy was similar to that of the electric eel.

Even though Toby had nearly drowned underwater, it only took him about ten seconds to smile radiantly as he realized how fantastically awesome the situation was. Immediately after said thought, the boy began to spin and twirl about through the water much like he would do back home, either in a pool or at a lake. The only difference was how much more finesse the boy now had, which was to be expected as his body was now quite literally designed to spin and twirl through the water.

Every twist and pirouette was met with laughter and giggling. It would be an understatement to say that this very moment was a dream come true. Nowhere in the boy's imagination could he anticipate the feeling satisfaction of swimming through the ocean, not like a fish, but as one.

At first his movements both looked and felt awkward and clumsy. However, even as he maneuvered through the water similar to how a toddler would take its first steps, he could feel and understand the motions and technique required to move throughout the water as if it were second nature. After a few minutes of blissful practice Toby no longer maneuvered in an uncoordinated, clumsy manner. Instead, each turn and twist was met with a passionate, heartfelt burst of energy.
​

reference

Toby was so caught up with the wondrous feeling of his new body he didn't even attempt to speak.

​

 

[Fox of Hearts]

The lights flashed several times. Ran gushed ecstatically as he swam round the beautifully jellyfish Lelia. He grinned from ear to ear as he committed every single detail to memory. A dark silhouette loomed from behind. As Ran tried to curl into a shrimp sized ball, the area was plunged into darkness. An ethereal blue-green glow came from the confused girl. Angler-man squinted when a blood red tendril caught his eye. He sniffed the water but didn't smell anything. Oh wait! He wasn't a shark.

One by one his lights flickered to life. Niran wiggled his tail fin and prepared to charge. He studied the shadowy creature circling round them. More red tendrils fluttered around. Then it clicked! He smacked his forehead.

"Ace!"

Upon hearing the word 'light' the man brightened up. He clenched his fist and screwed his eyes shut. The poor artist looked constipated as he concentrated on illuminating a wider area. The glowing patches all over his body blinked crazily and finally shut down. Still Niran persisted. With a loud crackle the fluorescent beads came on once more. The blinding light revealed a puzzled half-octopus a few feet ahead. Beyond that hooman was a small group. They were hovered tantalizingly at the edge of the visible area. Without warning the darkness returned. Thankfully Lelia provided them with a gentle but sustainable light source. The exhausted part angler held onto Ace's fin.

"I think my batteries are flat."

Now that the annoying low buzzing from his lights had stopped Ran heard a familiar giggle. He perked up. There it was again! The boy was definitely nearby but he wasn't sure where.

"TOBY!" He yelled. "TOBY! We're here."

It didn't seem like the teen heard them. He rubbed his chin. What could he say to attract the hyper lad's attention? He stroke the light stalk sprouting from his forehead.

"TOBY! COME TOWARDS THE LIGHT!"

 

[MixedUpGuy]

​

As Inadi hit the water he began feeling a strange wave of movement go over his body. Holding on tightly to his glasses so that they wouldn't fall off in the water he felt his shoulders and his legs suddenly tighten up on him as if they were being crushed by some unseen force. His face showed pain, but he noticed that the water was not causing him to drown as his mouth opened to let out a small gasp. Looking around he saw the others that had jumped into the water and started showing signs of becoming the fish that the hooded figures informed them they could with that drink they had. The sights themselves were almost otherworldly, and Inadi mentally slapped himself for being so caught up in it. No matter how many times things like this happened. No matter what strange new occurrence took place he always seemed to forget. This was Nowhere.

The strange pain suddenly lifted from his body, Inadi looked down and saw that his legs had been transformed into a single tail, similar to what he saw Harper have. The boy couldn't help but feel somewhat disappointed that he was such a bland blue compared to the bright colors that Harper had, but it was still interesting seeing how the light danced off his scales now. Something Inadi never thought he would ever say. Other than that he didn't see anything that interesting with his new look. Leila had the gown it seemed with her jellyfish form. Ran had the light hanging from off his head like the angler fish. Letting out a sigh he decided to place his glasses back on his face, as he noticed his near sightedness still seemed to be in affect.

Inadi tried finding the tip to his nose so he could slide it up, but found his nose had seemingly disappeared. Bringing his hands up he began feeling a strange extension pulling away from his face. Realizing what he was now, the thought that he was just a simple trout disappeared and an unamused chuckle shot out from his throat. He was a swordfish, and the irony was not lost on him. Since he came to Nowhere he had been having trouble keeping his glasses on and now it seemed like he was finally given a better resting spot for his glasses.

Letting out a sigh he swam rather clumsily over to Leila and did what he could to judge the distance of his new nose. Sadly even with his caution he accidently poked Leila in her new jellyfish gown and Inadi immediately pulled himself back. "Ah! Sorry about that Leila. Not all that comfortable with this new beak I got I guess. But at least now I don't really need Kain down here," He told her with a nervous laugh as he suddenly thought back to the boat. He had left his spear stuck in the wood of that glorified raft. Turning to Luke he swam over as quickly as he could, his tail fin still awkwardly thrashing about and creating a large collection of bubbles to sway.

"Hey! I left my spear back on the boat. Any chance we could go back up and try to get it before we go any deeper into the ocean?" Inadi asked as he figured the answer would be no. Considering their new forms he could only fancy a guess as to what they would be like on land after this. Breathing pure oxygen was probably impossible at this point too since it seemed like they had gained the ability to breath like fish, luckily though without the inclusion of gills. Inadi hated the idea of having opened slits of skin on his throat. Made him shiver just thinking about it.

Turning his head to look at Harper, he got a closer look at the tail of his friend. It was a lot brighter than he thought at first. Seemed odd that he would be an orange fish considering Riley and Ace were both more connected to the color in his eyes. Seeing that Ace was a shark though wasn't all that surprising in the end. Looking back to Harper, Inadi let out a laugh. "So any chance you got water proof pies you could throw around down here Harper?" Yes, it was a bad joke. No, Inadi wasn't proud of it. But considering that his nose was probably going to be a talking point he would rather the group mention his bad humor that the pointed beak he had suddenly gained since they decided to take a dip.

 

[Warden]

Gary metamorphosed earliest, seeing that she was the first in both groups to down the potion. "Oh cool, I'm a horsesea!" she trilled in glee as the change finally took place, and then spent her time readjusting to the jumping motions that constituted a tailless transformation. She didn't realize that she used the term for a pokemon and normally Numair would be there to snigger and correct her, but the surfer was far too busy sinking to notice anything the others did.

The poor man was assaulted by the memories of his last time in the sea, and blanking out like that was probably the only way he could've avoided a complete mental breakdown. He refused to breathe and still had his eyes shut. The waves were pounding down on him. Smothering. Chest hurts. I broke a rib? Everything aches, I don't know where to begin. Breath failing. Am I dying? I can't die yet. Oh God, make it stop.

On the other hand, Victoria was at a respectable distance from the center of the group namely the oddly chipper adult who had turned into a glowing ball and the soft-spoken jellyfish girl. She watched the humans as they pranced about in their new bodies, then turned away when somebody addressed her. It was that timid boy who, strangely enough, doubled as the de facto leader of the Lost Souls.

"No, I haven't. None of my targets escaped far enough to go underwater," she replied in a clipped tone. Like all the others the huntress had transformed into part-sea creature, specifically a lionfish. Her lower half was painted in a muted orange, splattered with wide swaths of vermillion that turned black on the edges, and she tapered down to a wide tail that was completely invisible save for luminescent blue circles outlining its form. Thin, elegant spikes protruded from her spine like extensions; graceful beauty and lethality combined in a single form. "Is everyone done? Let's go towards those lights like Luke said," Victoria sighed and swam ahead of the group, feeling more and more like a tour guide as her time with these creatures lengthened.

Luke collided with Numair and the impact sent the frozen surfer spinning in place. Gary descended upon the two and poked him,"You're a dolphin, Numnums!" True to what she observed, the man's legs had fused together to form the shiny gray tail of a dolphin. The only thing differentiating it from a normal tail was how there was something akin to tribal tattoos running down the length of the sides. It looked cool and hip! "Dolphins save people, right? So you don't have to be scared! C'mon!"

And on their group went, the swim long enough for anybody to spark up a friendly chat with whoever they wished to.

 

[Fox of Spades]

​

None of them had done this before, not even Victoria. It left Harper feeling doubtful, but in Nowhere, was anything ever certain? No, nothing ever was. "That sounds good." He nodded his head, the longer they remained apart, the more likely that one of them would be swept away by the current, and that was a chance none of them could take, not here and not now. They didn't know what sort of creatures roamed Nowhere's oceans and they didn't know how long these potions would last either, so the quicker they could get this done the better.

Harper was just about to follow after Vicky when Inadi told a joke, it took a couple of moments for the punchline to sink in, but when it did, he did he chuckled. "You know," the boy scrunched up his nose and laughed, "that was almost as bad as one of Riley's jokes, Inadi," then a little more jokingly he added, "nice sword, well, we should stick close to Vicky." He started swimming away but noticed the hooded figures were lagging behind. Numair looked like he was in shock and Gary was trying to speak to him.

"Gary? Luke? Is he okay?" Harper gave Inadi a questioning glance. Maybe the two of them could do something to help?

Luke nodded his head. "Nums, is tough! Gary says he has buns of steel...I never knew he baked bread, but Gary knows a lot of things so," Luke paused to shrug, "anyways, Nums doesn't like the ocean." The young man clamped both his hands onto Numair's shoulders and begun ushering the catatonic surfer along. "Gargar is right, it'll be alright, I mean, you have us!" He was looking at Inadi now. "Sorry, sorry, we won't have time to go back for your spear. The boat is probably long gone by now and we need to get to your friends." Luke was oddly chipper, like a kid that had devoured an entire chocolate bar and a gallon of soda. "We'll get you guys weapons when we get back to base, besides, you've got a pretty neat sword already." He gestured to Inadi's nose then began swimming along, leading Numair by the hand as he did so.
​

​

"Wake up."

"Just five more minutes, Kim..."

THWACK

"SHIT," Riley let out a sharp his, both hands reaching up to rub the sore spot on her forehead. "What?" She looked around and noticed C with a clam in her hands, eyebrows drawn together in either concern or irritation. It was probably the later, or maybe a mix of both. "Where...where are we?"

"Underwater." C was back to looking as expressionless as ever, she turned to Sacha and sighed. "Can you see the others?"

It was at the moment when Riley noticed Sacha's octopus-ness and C's now grey fish tail. The potions had worked...this, this was FLIPPING AMAZING. Riley looked at her feet and noticed a white tale with black and orange markings, she'd seen this before. "I'm part Koi now?"

The leader of the hooded figures simply stared into the distance.

"Cake? Earth to Cake?"

She narrowed her eyes before a slight smile tugged on the corner of her lips. "Jasper. Toby."

"Huh?" The girl swiveled around and stared, she couldn't really tell since they were part fish and all, but there were definitely people there and one of them was spinning around in happy circles. Riley began swimming towards them and after a little more staring she grinned from ear to ear and waved. "Toby! Jasper!" She tried to stop, but the current caused her to crash into the girl. "Sorry about that, Jasper." Riley righted herself and laughed. "Pretty crazy, huh?"

C was Riley's exact opposite in demeanor, while the red head had sped off like a bullet, she remained with Sacha and looked around, hoping to catch a glimpse of the others. For a moment, the situation didn't look so good and it continued this way for sometime, until she caught a faint glimmer of light.

"Sacha, did you see that?"

This time it shone a little brighter, there was yellow, then green, then blue.

"Cake, Sacha! It's them."

C stared on quietly then turned to her fellow hooded figure. "It might be them, we should go." And then she turned to the humans and motioned for them to come over. "There's light, it might be your friends."


​

 

[Kimchi]

fishie.

Grasping tightly to the sail of the sinking ship, it only took one last mouth of a wave to swallow the rickety float for good. Unfortunately, Jasper was completely engulfed along with it. A heavy pressure seemed to weigh down at all sides of her body as she drifted underwater in no particular direction. Water rushed to clog her ears and nostrils, eyes shut tight as she wondered when the potion would take effect or if she'd die from drowning. Oddly enough, the sensation of loosing oxygen wasn't threatening her at the moment. In some ways, it was surreal and calming. Eyelids parting, she watched in mute silence as the last of her air bubble floated peacefully, in contrast, to the violent tides thrashing at the surface.

Just as her lungs started to claw for a breath, a set of slits opened up at both sides of her neck; they were gills. Orange hued scaling grew out of her skin along with a tail of the same color. Although the rest of her body was somewhat colorful, her skin remained the same pallid tone, but she didn't mind very much. It felt absolutely amazing to have the innate abilities of an aquatic creature. Thrusting her legs, her tail mimicked her desired motion but together as a whole instead of separately as it would with two legs. Her vision cleared up as well, almost as if she were wearing goggles. Not far from where she mutated, she could spot the group. She recognized them even with the animalistic characteristics. Jellyfish, sharks, octopus, fishes of all kinds.

Swimming swiftly toward them, leaving a trail of bubbles where she passed, she caught up to the group only to collide with Riley who turned into a half Koi. Stunning! Everyone looked absolutely stunning. Once they were done admiring their newly acquired forms, the mission continued. After some time had passed, the sea had hushed down and was mostly still waters. The light available in the ocean was minimal already, but it seemed to be getting darker and darker as they kept on swimming. eventually, some strange light sources above caused them to stop. "Our friends? Is it the guides?" She asked hesitantly. If so, she would leap up there to greet them, question them, explain herself. Clear up the situation and get some real answers, but for now she held back and remained steadfast with the group's decision.

 

[Capt. Blu]

Ace circled around the light sources until she got dizzy, and then sort of just floated in one spot. "Soooo, what now?" She tilted her head side to side when she thought she saw dark figures in the distance. Something unfamiliar? Of course it was time to explore. The girl dared to go closer- she dared to do a lot of things really- but in this dare she nearly swam right into a swarm of tentacles. "Wah! Mayday! Mayday!" She yelled as she swatted them left and right before sinking downwards. "Geez Sach. Watch where you flail those things." Ace swam towards Harper and Inadi and grinned, once more showing off those oddly sharp teeth. Instead of teasing Inadi, she simply poked Inadi's rather long nose and then turned her attention to more figures in the distance.

"More unknowns spotted!" She patted Harper's shoulder before swimming off. This time, she swam slower. An idea popped in her head and she laughed softly. As she swam, she hummed the Jaws theme song. Ace had seen the movie a couple of times before- along with every mafia movie known to wherever she lived- and it seemed quite fitting.

Theme

When she approached her target or targets, she paused. "And chomp! You would've been eaten." Ace examined Riley and Jasper and grinned. "You guys look pretty too." For a split second, Ace was a tad bit jealous she wasn't as colorful as they were, but it only lasted for a second. She liked the shiny black and red she was and wouldn't have it any other way. "What are you guys doing way over here? Everyone is grouping up! Let's go!" She turned and grinned. "Follow the tail fin and find shiny lights!" Ace swam back to the others and called out.

"I found the stragglers! Alright, let's- where are we going?" She looked at C for directions before looking around at the vast, open space. "There doesn't look like there's any place to go for a few miles..." Well that wasn't convenient at all and sounded rather boring too. This was normally around the time she just let everyone else handle things, and semi pay attention to the plans and missions.

 

[Fox of Hearts]

"Lelia, were you a fan of Disney? According to their logic we'd be singing right now having successfully transformed into fish!"

Ran bobbed around in the water then he belly flopped. He swam in lazy circles round Lelia. Honestly he can't help but envy how the beautiful jellyfish can keep glowing like that when his lights fizzed out after some exertion on his part. Hopefully they find a hardware shop or something then he could get his bulb checked. Softly he began humming to himself. The tune was familiar, but no English words came to mind. He began singing the words out loud hoping he'll remember them. Gradually as he sang the lights along his body began flickering to life once more.

หิมะสีขาวเป็นประกายในราตรี ไม่มีรอยเท้ายามที่มอง
真っ白な世界に一人の私
ในดินแดนอ้างว้างร้างผู้คนมีเพียงเรานี้ที่ครอบครอง
このままじゃダメなんだと​

The poor man faltered after finishing the first verse. Clearly the lyrics were lost in translation. He was distinctively aware that he was singing in two different languages at once. He didn't even know how that happened. Had he been that obsessed with the song? Shaking his head in amusement Niran went back to humming. Frankly he hoped the rest of his memory is somewhat intact. The thought of forgetting the names of his favourite colours in all three languages frightened him. That was his livelihood. His identity! Without it he would be no better than a floppy blobfish.

"Did you hear that?"

Niran cupped a hand round his ear. Yes! There it was again. A distant toot followed by a low mellow whistle. The man attempted to pull off a Dory and whistle back in response. All over his body the lights blinked in constantly. The effect was similar to the LED lights wound round a Christmas tree. The whale was close. He whirled round on the spot so quickly that he narrowly missed smacking his head against his tail fins.

"Lelia! Let's go check it out!" He called as he zipped in the direction of the whale call.

 

[MixedUpGuy]

Looking over to Harper responding to his joke only made Inadi shrug. "Eh, it could have been a lot worse you know. Could actually be one of Riley's jokes." He said with a jab towards the girl the leader referenced. Sadly it seemed that Kain was not going to be coming with on this journey, and Inadi couldn't help but feel a small tinge of sadness at that. The spear had almost become synonymous with him since their journey to Sol. All the work he had put into learning how to wield it properly and even changing how to spear looked to optimize the potential it had. Maybe it was just the idea that all the time he spent on it was now worthless or perhaps that he had grown attatched to the weapon that made him feel a little blue.

Looking down and seeing his scales made that sadness turn into annoyance. Great. Now in his mind he was throwing out bad puns to himself. Without realizing it. Maybe this was just a end result of working with the red headed journalist those few times. She was starting to destroy his mind. Shaking it off he began looking around to try and see who all they were still missing. While doing that Ace decided poking at Inadi's nose was a good idea and looked out towards the vast emptiness of the ocean. Watching the new nose he had react to the poke, it seemed to take on a life of it's own as it jumped back and forth for what seemed like forever. Quickly realizing he was going crossed watching it he grabbed it and waited for the momentum in it to stop. Seeing it finally come to rest Inadi took in a mental note to make sure that no one touched the nose again, else he really lose his vision.

Watching Ace swim off towards some figures in the distance he began going as fast as his tail would take him towards it. Finally getting close enough to see Inadi saw that it was Riley and Jasper apparently. Ace joked about eating the two of them, her being a shark and all, and felt that the humor in this ocean was starting to become overpowering at best. This many stand ups in one place may cause him to run his own sword, or in this case his nose, through himself and just let the abyss below them all take him.

Turning towards Jasper he could help but feel a little impressed by her appearance. She was quite bright all things considered and it seemed as though the orange really suited her. Same thing for Riley, though it was a more obvious thing due to her hair already being the color itself. Trying his best to not hit anyone with his nose he gave them both a quick nod. "I'd say fish scales look really good on the two of you. You both wear it well," Inadi told them both with a quick thumbs up as he gazed over at Jasper. "Especially you. Maybe when we get back to land and we have some time maybe you can try on an orange dress and see how it works when we get our legs back." Inadi said with a chuckle and a small smile as he looked over towards Ace and the others.

Once back with the main group Inadi looked over at Harper and tried to get some kind of a head count going on with the whole unit. Seemed like everyone was there and they had finally gathered the stragglers. All that being done now it was time to figure out what all was supposed to happen next. Being in the water he doubted there was an actual meeting point they had mapped out prior to coming in there. Unless the hooded figures had planned this out well in advance. Hopefully they did, because as of that point he had no clue what to do next. "Hey Harper, you got any idea what the next step is? We got our fins and gills here, but nothing else really jumps out at me other than get the item. Any idea where to start looking?" Inadi said in general as he waited for further directions. As he did so there was a strange noise and saw that Ran was zipping out towards it. Immediately getting concerned, he started following him to the noise. "Ran wait a minute! We don't know what's friendly and what isn't in this pond! Hold up!" Inadi pleaded as his swimming was still very rusty and problematic. Ran had a big lead on him it seemed and it was clear that Inadi's calls didn't either reach him or he ignored them. Either way, it only made Inadi's tail flips more drastic in the end.

 

[four]

It didn't take long for the group to reform underwater, thanks to Ran's acting as a very efficient beacon.

It appeared that the potion had varying effects on different people. Most of them took the form of mermaids not unlike those she had read of in works of fiction: human upper torso, met by the tail of a fish. Harper's orange and white stripes made evident that half of him was now clownfish; Jasper's hair was now a flowing mass of gold. There was also Luke, eight brightly coloured tendrils swirling behind him as he moved.

Intrigued by their new appearances, Leila scrambled to identify every member of the group. Riley, Roby, C, ...where's -

" - aw?"

She felt something sharp jab into...it took a while for her to figure out the position from which the signal sent by part of her new body originated. She turned around to see Inadi, half-fish like everyone else was, or perhaps a bit more - the extra bit being the long beak protruding from the part of his face that used to be his nose and mouth. The man's glasses were hung steadily at the base of that sharp extrusion.

She brought her hands up to cover her mouth, barely resisting laughing.

* * * *​

"Were you a fan of Disney?"

She had heard of the man that pioneered a revolution in the art of animation, but Leila never did really see the logic behind breaking into song whenever something that's relatively important happens.

She realized not having lungs didn't really feel that weird. She glanced down, only to see that the thin layer of translucent red that circled her body wasn't translucent enough to allow her a view to how her internal organs were now arranged. She could inhale and exhale and her chest would rise and fall but it didn't really feel like she was...breathing? Attempts to speak that would have otherwise resulted in indistinct gurgles, because of her no longer having lungs filled with air, resulted in actual words that echoed through water instead of air, and she found that satisfying.

Any awkward attempts to sing, or hum - she didn't know the words and she was certain they were not of any language she yet recognized - produced inharmonic whimpers and screeches as usual, however, and she quickly gave that up; although she didn't forget to at least smile and shift slightly from side to side to the tempo of the flickering of Ran's light display.

Then Ran stopped, and she heard the same sounds that he did.

"...did anyone else hear that?"

"Lelia! Let's go check it out!" Ran.

"okay," she then replied.

She just then noticed that even being half-morphed into an aquatic creature, the ability to swim didn't come naturally.

Or that the creature that she took after didn't exactly have much of such a capability to start with.

She quickly figured out what to picture in order to contract and sequentially relax the layers of gelatinous film and long threads that trail behind in a pattern that would propel herself forward, but it did so only so ineffectively.

"Uh...wait - ?"

Struggling in frustration to push herself forward, Leila called towards the chunk of lights that was rapidly fading into the distance that was Ran, hoping that she was loud enough for him to hear.

 

[Fox of Spades]

​

"The guides?" C was growing more confused by the second.

On the other hand, Jasper's question made the energetic Riley quiet down a little. "Oh y'know, Song, Brandu, Marti, the friendly nobodies at the castle." She wondered if they were happy to be free of the humans, but she missed them too. They had been nothing but helpful, Riley hadn't known them as long as Harper or Jasper did, but she did feel bad about leaving them in the dark and just running off with a bunch of fugitives. "I'm sure we'll run into them somewhere out there, Jasper."

The hooded figure shook her head. They were wanted criminals, so it would be best if they stayed out of the queen's way. "Hurry," she motioned for the excited Toby to follow after them, but paused when Ace appeared with a rather toothy grin.

"Ace? Haha, looking good." Riley held out her hand for a high five then laughed when her friend shot them a compliment. "I know, all us make pretty good merpeople. Especially Jasper, she's rocking the goldfish look." The team followed after Ace and once again everyone was reunited.

Luke waved rapidly at the approaching second team and Harper nodded in agreement when Inadi complimented the girls' transformations.

"I can say the same to you Inadi, nice nose." Riley thought Inadi was a great writer, but she also thought he was fun to mess with, much to the young man's dismay. The group began thinking about the next steps to take while Ran sang a familiar tune in the background.
​

​

"Frozen?" Harper arched an eyebrow and smiled.

Luke scrunched up his nose in confusion. "Frozen? Hey, hey, Sacha, Gargar? Is the lake starting to freeze up?" He paled a little then turned to Vicky and Numair. "I thought that only happened once a year?" If the lake froze up, they'd die and no one would be able to feed Rainbowzilla and Porkchop and then they'd die too. "H-Hey, Gargar, did you leave extra pet food on the counter, just in case?"

Riley just laughed at the babbling criminal. "Reminds you of queen Haku and Leon, doesn't it?"

Harper nodded his head, but refrained from saying anything about the duo. Their names were linked with witches and old oak trees now, and it didn't seem like the time to remind everyone about their losses. A wave of relief washed over him when Ran stopped singing the tune, but it was replaced with worry when the grownup and Leila began swimming off without everyone. "Hey, wait up!"
​

"Lelia? Lelia I'm coming back."

Harper watched as both glowing humans began swimming around in a frenzy, then all of a sudden a dark shadow appeared around them followed by two blinding beams of light. A loud beeping sound resonated throughout the sea and he could have sworn he heard Ran screaming his lungs out.

Ran and Leila were sent tumbling forward by an invisible current, but after moments of staring Harper made out the dark outlines of something, and then it began swimming towards his friends and they could finally see what it was. It was a giant whale.
​

"Victoria?" Harper could feel his heart drumming against his chest. "Is that thing dangerous? Should we go help them?" Nowhere was filled with crazy things, but while some of these things were harmless (Like Mr. Cuddles the eight foot tall pastry-eating bear), some of these things were dangerous (like the evil oak in the forest and the monster disguised as a mushroom in the cave), and what category this whale was under, he didn't know.

Maybe it wanted a hug... or maybe it wanted to eat Ran and Leila then digest them.

"Ran!" Riley was already swimming towards her friends. It wasn't exactly the brightest idea out there, but she wasn't going to just stay there and do nothing. "Just hold on!"

Before Harper or anyone could do anything, the whale did a roll and shook both Ran and Leila off its back. It opened its mouth wide and swallowed both the humans whole.

Riley froze in place, she muttered a flurry of curses while Harper yelled at her to get back.

Leila and Ran were gone. It happened just like that and they were gone. She couldn't move a muscle and before Riley knew it she was being sucked into the whale's mouth. The girl tried to swim away, but soon enough darkness enveloped her.

Harper felt sick to his stomach. Three of their friends were gone.

The whale turned its headlight-like eyes towards them and began to charge.
​

​

Inside the Whale Bus:

The place smelled like Tuna and the walls and floors felt slick.

Riley opened her eyes to see a tooth shaped chandelier hanging from the roof. She could hear the sound of day-to-day conversations. There was mom scolding her child for dropping his chocolate crab, a business trout complaining about his pay, and all sorts of other conversations.

Riley sat up and noticed they were in some sort of bus? There were all kinds of sea creatures seated on the chairs. There was a crab in a tophat and a turtle in a gown. "Ranran? Leila?" Eventually she spotted them, like her, they were sprawled out on the ground and a little dazed. "You...you guys had me really worried. Are you okay?" Riley rushed towards them and pulled the duo into a tight hug. They stayed that way for a little while before Riley pulled back and punched Ran in the shoulder. For a moment she looked upset, but it didn't last. "And that, that's for being stupid." She hoped the others weren't worrying too much about them.


​

 

[Capt. Blu]

Ace high fived the koi fish Riley before following her and sneaking another tap of Inadi's nose. She giggled and watched as their pretty light sources swam away. "Hey come back." She started swimming forward, only to pause at the sudden and not so pleasant sound. "What was that- Oh." Her attention turned to the whale- no the very large whale approaching. "Is it me, or is that thing getting larger the closer it gets?" Ace had started to swim backwards, only to see Ran and Leila start getting sucked in the current.

"Leila! Ran!" She swam toward them, reaching her hand out, only for them to get swallowed. "Whales...Whales don't eat people...Right?" She turned to look at the group to figure out some answers. She didn't have much luxury in learning about sea life through TV. She barely knew the references some of them made all together, like the one of Frozen. She had never seen the movie- Maybe one day when she would when she could easily steal it or something. Realizing her mind had wandered a bit, she almost missed Riley getting trapped inside. "Riley!" This time, she couldn't just stay put. Ace just knew she could find some way to help before they all got eaten whole.

"I'm not just going to wait for it to leave! I'm going to try and find the others. So, come on!" If she remembered correctly in....some class she learned it in, whales had holes on them. Blow holes where they randomly became geysers room time to time. Maybe they could get through that way? She swam towards the whale, trying to keep away from the rather large mouth. Ace flew higher to get to it's back, but once again the whale's mouth opened and the strong current sucked her inside. She braced herself, for some reason holding her breath, as it got dark for a few moments. Well...this wasn't a very honorable way to die...

...Of course, she would actually have to be dead to say that one. Ace opened her eyes to see some weird...chandelier was it? Her head turned to one side and she was looking at a bunch of fish upside down- were turtles considered fish? Well, aquatic creatures. "Eh?" It was the only sound she managed to make before rolling over and looking around. "....I knew whales didn't eat people- wait what do whales eat anyway?" She scratched her head before noticing the three whom were eaten before her. "Oh, there you guys are. So, are we just suppose to sit here or..." She looked around again, noticing a few empty seats in the back. "We're suppose to sit here." Ace decided there was no use questioning something like this. Instead, she took a seat, awaiting everyone else. "A little warning would've been nice too, but it's Nowhere. A place full of surprises. Besides, it couldn't be as bad as the last animal transportation we took. Is this a bus too? Or like a train? Hm, maybe even a plane for them."

Ace noticed how all the creatures inside the whale were pretty quiet and casual about everything. She took interest in the different creatures that were mingling about. "Huh, fish creatures have normal lives too. I was expecting something extravagant- kind of like the musical Ran was talking about."

 

[Cephalogod]

Sacha obediently followed C as she had motioned for him to, all the while trying to figure how to use the mass of tentacles that blossomed from his lower torso. Wriggle that one a bit, wave the other around- and now some of them were tangled. He fell behind slightly as he untangled the mass with a grimace. Eventually he managed to get the hang of propelling himself forward. It was kind of like swimming breastroke, only with several extra pairs of legs.

"Wah! Mayday! Mayday!"

A large something had swam into his many legs and he quickly drew back, the tentacles each seeming to shrink in size while becoming tinged a nice pink color as if in embarrassment. "I apologize," He was slightly frazzled, not having expected anyone to swim into him. Ace swam off quickly, and he did his best to follow where everybody was heading. Were they moving in the direction of the bus? He always got confused as to if there really was a station or not. At least everybody was together now- that was a start.

"I think I left out at least a week's worth of food for Zilla and Porkchop," Sacha tried to remember exactly how he had left the house. They had turned off the stove, right? "I'm sure they'll manage to break out to the garden if they run out of food." He blinked in thought, then frowned. Maybe he shouldn't have asked Nympha to water the garden when they were gone...

His line of thought was quickly broken by beams of light passing over their group, followed by familiar beeping. Had they ended up finding the bus after all? He heaved a sigh of relief, bubbles escaping his mouth in a cloud. The humans seemed to be panicking for some reason, even more so when some of them were swallowed up- oh. Right. They hadn't actually explained how the bus worked, did it? And it was heading straight for them.

"Calm down, it's all fine-" He tried to reassure them as some of them scattered, only to feel a strong current pull him backwards as the whale opened its mouth and inhaled. For a moment he lost his bearing as he was sent tumbling this way and that, finally being plopped into the main body of the bus. He lay there for a while, head spinning and tentacles in a knot before finally sitting up with a groan.

"H-hey there." He started to attempt to untangle the mass of limbs as he shot the humans a sheepish smile. "We probably should have told you how the bus worked beforehand, sorry about that..."

 

[Fox of Spades]

"AUUGHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The whale bus swam around them in circles before finally coming to a halt. It opened its mouth as wide as it could before its eyes landed on Sacha. There was a spark of recognition and the whale lifted one of its fins and waved.

"We probably should have told you how the bus worked beforehand, sorry about that..."

"B-Bus?" Luke was in the process of fleeing, but C grabbed onto his wrist and yanked him back. The young man stared at Sacha's apologetic expression and C's blank face. "Oh yeah," he struck a shaky pose in an attempt to look cool. "Silly humans, that's...that's just a bus."

"Says the guy who was ready to abandon us all," C said with a small smirk.

The poor guy turned several shades of red despite being underwater and he ducked behind Numair and Gary and complained about how mean their leader was being. "Gargar, you thought it was a rampaging whale too, right?" He made sure he had asked in a whisper and hoped that Gary would say yes, he needed to regain his dignity. The boy waited for a response before letting out a hearty laugh, he then placed a hand on Numair's shoulder. "It's nothing to be afraid of," it was spoken just loud enough for the others to hear. "It's just a bus."

Unlike Luke, Harper couldn't bounce back at the snap of a finger.

A few moments ago, he believed that Leila, Riley, and Ran had been killed, that they had disappeared forever just like Haku and Leon. Now, Sacha was telling them it was just a bus, and while he was relieved, he could still hear his heart hammering inside his chest and he felt lightheaded. He was a bundle of nerves and he shook his head right and left in an attempt to shake off the fear.

"Moby Dick was busy," C mumbled, "so they sent Willy instead."

The whale opened its mouth even wider, it looked like it was getting tired of waiting.

C's eyes landed on the humans and she motioned for them to enter the whale's mouth. "Sorry, he can be a bit overzealous."

Staring at the whale's teeth made Luke shudder, he looked at Victoria and gave the woman a sheepish grin. "Haha, since you're good at this sort of thing, maybe you should go first?" C shot him a glare after that and he pretty much zipped into the whale's mouth with a gulp.

Harper forced a smile and nodded to Inadi, Jasper, and Toby. "It's good to know everyone is safe." And with that the boy made his way into the whale's mouth. Everything went dark and it smelled like tuna and algae, so he held his breath. Navigating wasn't easy, but soon everyone would notice the soft glow of one of the chandeliers.

Inside the Whale Bus:

I knew whales didn't eat people- wait what do whales eat anyway?"

Riley pulled Ace into a quick a hug. The girl wasn't exactly the most affectionate person out there, but she was just damned happy to be alive. "I think they eat plankton," she stated with a grin.

As usual, Ace was quick to bounce back and soon the girl had found a place to sit. Riley swam up and stretched before she offered both Ran and Leila a helping hand. "Next time you do something dangerous..." she gave them her best evil eye but instead of appearing all upset, she ended up laughing. "You should at least wait for us to catch up!" And then she focused on Leila and stated teasingly, "I know we aren't dragon tamers, but we can at least offer some help—"

Before Riley could say more, the remaining humans, the hooded figures and Victoria came tumbling into the aisle. She spent a moment laughing at the heap of tangled limbs and tails but made her way towards her friends and began to offer them a helping hand.

By now most of the passengers were staring at them, and one trout in particular looked rather amused. "Hey," he waited for the humans to look at him. "I haven't seen any of you fishes around here, are you from out of town?"

A Dolphin seated near the back tipped his hat at them and stared. "Benny boy is right, haven't seen any of you fishes around, and I've lived here ever since creation day."

The entire bus had broken into a hum of fishes and aquatic creatures all speaking at once.

"It's nice to see new faces around." This time it was Ms. Claw, a bright red lobster in a summer dress. "Where are you fishes headed?"

Benny trout laughed. "I hope none of you are going to Orion."

A few fishes looked the other way and some let out a low whistle. Benny trout laughed awkwardly as he waited for a response.

 

[MixedUpGuy]

Inadi continued his pursuit of Ran and Leila and saw that Riley later on joined the chase. Eventually giving into the exhaustion he was feeling from all the forced kicking of his newly acquired tail Inadi decided to let the crew go on their little adventure. Breathing in heavily and placing his hands on his hips he began hearing the same sound from earlier, only this time a little louder. Raising an eyebrow he looked up and tried to pinpoint the location of the sound. Eventually it came into his view. A giant whale.

The eyes behind his glasses went wide as the whale swallowed what looked like Leila and Ran immediately and Riley also getting taken away by the giant mammal. Fearing that the three had just been stolen from them without so much as a fight, Inadi began watching the whale to see the next move it would make. It was clear that it wasn't finished with them as it started circling them. Turning to Jasper he grabbed her hand and then called out to Ace. "Ace get close! Don't give it a chance to pick us off one by one!" Inadi said with nerves starting to clank in his mind. Already they have a situation in which the Hooded Figures lead them into absolute tragedy. This union was already paying off as well as he thought it would.

Then suddenly the whale came to a screeching halt in front of them and almost seemed to be...waiting for something. Opening it's mouth Inadi saw that all their friends were inside and a few more things as well. C then explained that it was a bus that would take them to their next spot. Letting out an annoyed sigh and rolling his eyes, Inadi let go of Jasper's hand and looked back over to Harper after he addressed him. "Harper, do you ever notice how many times we travel in the gut of other animals. I'd say it is becoming quite a tiresome little trope in this story all things considered. But its not like I can rewrite it at this point," He said with a chuckle as he began swimming into the mouth. "Though I will take some liberties when describing the smell when I have to recount this in my diary slash mental decay notebooks."

Finally ending his landslide of sarcasm, Inadi looked around the whale and saw it wasn't as bad as he imagined. At first it seemed terrible as he found himself somehow tripping over feet he didn't have and landed in a giant pile up. Quickly pushing himself up though he looked around the room and found it surprisingly quaint. The chandeliers at the top did a decent job of lighting the room and it led him to Riley. Seeing her quickly hug Ace made him chuckle. "Eh, sometimes plankton. Other times krill. I'd say this big guy is more of a krill kind of whale. Need more meat to keep up this kind of body." He said as he gave a few quick pounds to the wall of the room. A sudden lurch in the room made everyone a little dizzy as the water inside sloshed and made everyone's balance a little off. Once it settled down, Inadi made a quick mental note to not do that again.

The other fish started speaking at that point and Inadi made a point to remember all the different kinds of species there. Lobster. Trout. Dolphin. It was a regular marine biology notebook. The lobster in the dress came up to them and began asking them where they were headed off too and a snarky comment from the trout named off the place of Orion. Letting out a sigh Inadi had a feeling that whatever was bad about Orion was why they were probably heading there. But rather than be the one to spark up the conversation about it he decided to use whatever scape goat he could get from talking and causing some sort of stir.

Quickly looking over to Jasper and Harper, Inadi got a brilliant idea. He mentally hoped and prayed that the two wouldn't mind him taking the route he was going to take, but again it probably wasn't wise to cause some kind of scene with all these other fish around here. Quickly scooting beside Jasper and Harper, he wrapped his arms around the two and smiled to the crowd. "Well I decided to take a nice trip to wherever with my girlfriend here Jasper. And Harper, my good friend here, wanted to tag along with us on a little vacation. We don't know where we are going, but we hope that it will be a fun little holiday," Inadi said with a chuckle as he then began speaking in a whisper. "If Orion causes them that kind of reaction, it might be best to just avoid telling them all the truth in the long run. You can do whatever you want as payback for this but I just figured this would be a better scene to cause then telling them we are after whatever it is that's at Orion." He told the two with a sincere look in his eye and hoped they wouldn't be too mad at him. Considering though how he just put them all on the spot like that, they probably would be. Livid even. And nobody would blame them. Not even Inadi.

 

[Capt. Blu]

The sudden display of affection had Ace lean the opposite way of it, but Riley was latched on even if it was just for a few moments. "Relax would you? No one is hurt." She laughed a little, pushing Riley away until the koi swam to her own seat. It wasn't long until the rest of the gang showed up to join them. "Took you long enough!"

"Eh, sometimes plankton. Other times krill. I'd say this big guy is more of a krill kind of whale. Need more meat to keep up this kind of body."

"Oh. Look at that. Learned something new..." She grinned and then turned her attention to the multiple fish that were talking to them all of a sudden. "Oh, we're from waaay, waaaaay out of town." Ace grinned, before leaning forward on the seat in front of her. "We're travelers. So, yeah, we're sightseeing."

"I hope none of you are going to Orion."

This made the redhead raise an eyebrow in curiosity. The fish didn't want them to go, so obviously they had to go. Obviously! But before her excitement could start, Inadi shot down the idea of them doing anything exciting or dangerous. Wait, were they heading there in the first place? Ace forgot if they had mentioned that in their discussion...She'd figure it out one way or another.

"If Orion causes them that kind of reaction, it might be best to just avoid telling them all the truth in the long run."

Ace overheard this and snickered before swimming from her seat. She swam above everyone at first until she was over the fish that had mentioned Orion in the first place. Benny, was it? Ace didn't know what kind of fish he was, but it didn't really matter to her. She did point out that there was a dolphin and a lobster...or was that a crab? No, no, it definitely had to be a lobster. Lobsters had the tails. "Hey, fishy guy." She hovered a bit lower, still upside down. Her hat managed to float off her head, so she caught it before it could stray away.

"And what might be so bad about Orion, hmm? Obviously something interesting has to be there if you guys think it's best to stay away right?" She grinned rather mischievously as she waited for her answer. While she waited, she decided to turn upright and gingerly float down to a seat. "Are there monsters? Dead things? Or maybe even mysterious disappearances? Well, c'mon! It's not like we're crazy enough to go. And we're from out of town, so obviously we don't know!"

 

[Warden]

​

​

"Whoooo, that was fun, innit?" Gary swam up and enthusiastically put her hands on her hips. Unlike her display of resilience, both Numair and Victoria looked less than reassured; the huntress for one had a hand placed over her breast and her eyes were as wide as could be. Obviously even she didn't expect a whale sucking poor human children in was an ally. "And also, what rampaging whale? Geez, diaper. You haven't done your homework!" Luke also seemed to be worried for the Hooded Figures' pets, but Gary either forgot or didn't care- well, she kinda did because she suspected Rainbowzilla might take a bite outta Porkchop- and it was Sacha who answered his question.

In any case, what was left of their group went inside the whale bus without fuss. The interior was lovely, even if it was dank and- Victoria wrinkled her nose and resisted the urge to cover the lower half of her face- leaned towards the smell of a clogged sink.
"Everyone's okay, right?" Numair whispered and then thanked Riley when she helped him up. The others got to their feet- er, fins- more easily. He was still shaking from the encounter, but it wasn't anything serious. He was actually glad he wasn't one of the kids that got funneled into the whale because if that was the first experience he had as a merman… Whew. Just talk about extra trauma, man. He really didn't need more reasons to dislike the sea.

The surfer glanced around at his companions. C and Luke were together, the latter looking confused as usual. Gary was now happily slapping/drumming a beat on poor Sacha's brand new tentacles, and their resident widow was frowning at everything. The humans were talking to each other too, and it seemed like a few even decided to spin a tale once the fishes asked them about their destination.

"We come from the settlements inland. The surfacers aren't as greedy as they seem, and they leave us merfolk along. Is it peaceful here too?"

Victoria swam up to the rabble who was questioning the Lost Souls, a bright and somewhat amiable- well, as amiable as her seemingly stern features could make it- smile on her lips. The trout balked when her poisonous spines brushed past his travel bag, but seemed drawn in by the reply anyway. Judging from what she picked up from their earlier conversation… "So, yes. Is there something strange going up in Orion? That's my niece, by the way. Just look at the hair. Also, children? Sit down," she gestured at the other humans who were still getting up from the floor and towards the empty seats, then returned her attention to their strange new companions with a wistful tone in her voice, "Watching over these kids is tiring… Especially when there's a couple included! Do you have children, Ms. Claw, Benny Boy?" If lying through her teeth was a sport, Victoria would have won the Olympics already.

Numair shook his head. The huntress was veering closely to getting their cover blown but he had to admit that she was good with interrogating people. He moved over to Leila and Ran instead. "So, you two aren't hurt, right?" the surfer asked as he patted the side of his lower body in disbelief. "This might take a bit of getting used to… or am I just the only one finding this weird?"