The Midnight Train to Nowhere

[Cephalogod]

The way that Victoria had worded it was a little harsh, but it would be rather difficult to miss the flashing red light at the bus stop. They should be able to see it from where they had gotten off- unless for some reason they were facing the opposite direction. Hopefully they weren't, because apparently their group would be moving on. They were merely wasting time here, and nobody wanted to stick around any longer than they needed to in case the fish decided to pay them a visit.

When Harper asked around for something sharp, Sacha picked up a jagged rock and handed it to the boy. "Would this work, perhaps?" The rock was quickly taken away from Gary who had no qualms about a little vandalation and a short note was left.

The groups were quickly split and the others left in a hurry, leaving Numair, Leila, Harper and himself still floating by the bus stop.

"Um, so we're looking for the glass pearl, right? Do you guys know where it is and where we should check first?"

"The black pearl, yes," Sacha started to swim towards the West side which they had been assigned. It looked less wrecked than the other building that were on the outer edges of Orion, giving him a small sense of comfort. It meant the area hadn't been hit as hard, right? Maybe there were still people there. "We only know it's in this area. That's why we're splitting up." He gave the boy a nod.

The road towards the West side was empty as expected, and although it had been cleared of seaweed and rocks for easy swimming his tentacles still managed to find things to snatch up on their own accord. After removing the third stray rock his limbs had clutched onto, he gave up on trying to get one of the tentacles to give up a small piece of coral it was stubbornly clinging onto.

He was rather unprepared for Leila's question. "I hoped that we wouldn't bump into it, but..." He hadn't considered the fact that the fish might be able to camouflage itself. What if it was watching them right now? He looked around, not finding anything out of the ordinary that he could see. "We'll just have to be careful." He tried to assure the girl, not wanting to encourage unnecessary paranoia.

Their group had reached some kind of a plaza, with abandoned market stalls surrounding a statue. Further down the road were more stalls, as well as a large building with brightly colored and slightly torn banners advertising various goods and services. "The marketplace and the shopping mall," Sacha observed. "Let's look around."

 

[Fox of Hearts]

"Rils. RILEY!" Ran bobbed up and down excitedly. He grabbed onto her tail. As the orange fish-girl turned around, he pointed to a towering object up ahead. His eyes were impossibly round with childlike awe. They had to ride on the Ferris wheel and maybe those spinning teacups! "Ina, Rils, Tobs! We have to go explore the fair grounds. It's super freaking awesome."

Memories of happier days when he was a kid came flooding back. The Viking ship, the roller coasters, merry-go-round, cotton candy – everything was so sparkly and shiny. He almost felt like an over exuberant kid again. Heck he hadn't been this energetic since celery got dunked in cheese. Niran didn't wait for the rest to agree before he zipped off towards the entrance of an ominous looking fairground. The lack of crowd, lights and sound failed to deter the mentally regressing adult. He gaped when they stood outside the empty ticket booth. For second it looked like all the foolishness was coming to a crashing halt, when Ran chimed. "Wow! It's our lucky day. We don't need tickets!"

The other two barely reached the booth before Ran disappeared amidst the deserted game booths. Everything was in various states of decay. There was paint peeling off the wooden frames and crumbling posters from the walls. The exposed metal surfaces were starting to rust. Even the food on display at the various carts were an assortment of black, greens and grey. All around the stuffed animal prizes gave them a beady, hollow stare. Their voices continued to echo eerily long after they stopped talking. Suddenly Ran was no longer in sight. No matter how they called his name, there was no reply.

"Rils!" Ran yelled out of the blues as his smiling face popped out in front of the remaining three. He laughed a little as he looked at their faces. Come on! He so had to do that. They were getting way to serious. It's not like this was a nightmare carnival like the one found in a video game. "Boy you guys look like you expect a zombie to jump out from behind you. Lighten up will you? Speaking of lightening up. I found the main switch."

His voice grew fainter as vanished into the creaky shed. He popped his head out a few seconds later with his eyebrow raised. Surely one of them would be just as excited to pull the huge switch. The thing was so big you have to grab the handle with both hands and plant your tail firmly against the side walls while you heave. He ducked back in. Gripping the handle tightly, Ran gave a mighty tug. The buzzing grew louder as tiny sparks leaped around. The whole generator shuddered. The first thing to crackle to life were the loudspeakers. Cheery carnival music blared from those dusty boxes as the lights flickered on one by one. The adult clapped his webbed hands in delight. "We have to activate the rides individually I think. Oh look! The shooting booth targets are starting to move. And… I smell burning moss?"

Acrid smoke rose from the popcorn machine to their left. Apparently heat and mouldy popcorn did not make a fantastic combo. Flaky bits of gunk and more smoke flooded the glass casing as the popper tilted over to tip out the burnt decay. Ran shook his head. He swam over and unplugged the machine. As he did so, he noticed something even worst. "Er guys! I think the candy floss machine is about to attack!"

The machine hiccoughed. Bubbles began shooting out of the sugar funnel. A seaweed like fluff kept growing till it was spilling over the sides. The monstrosity was expanding at an alarming rate. Desperately Ran tried to find the plug on to realize there wasn't one.

"Last one to the rides deals with the mess!" He yelled as he took off once more.

Let the fun begin!​

 

[Gossamer]

As the four of them arrived to the bus stop it was clear that Orion was not the most liveliest of cities, and it didn't help how dark the place looked. Granted, it was the first city they had visited and they weren't accustomed to any particular amount of lighting, but still, there was no denying how dark and spooky the place was. Not skipping a beat, Toby began swimming all over the bus stop, circling the benches and constantly twirling his body in search of civilization.

"This is totally sketchy you guys," He said aloud "This is where sea ghosts hang out and stuff. I bet Ace is having a blast, if she's already in there," Toby watched Riley bolt towards the gate and followed her, poking his head in as well in search of clues. "Hide and seek?" He asked with a grin. Very unlikely, but there's no harm in hoping.

This emotion stealing fish really scared everyone away.

"Emotion stealing fish?" The boy asked in a worrisome tone, and quickly turned to Niran and Inadi "You guys! Hide your emotions!" He was unsure of how vague the term 'emotional stealing fish' was, along with how such a process would play out. No need to sit around and find out though. Toby's eyes began to wander around the area in concentration as he pondered what to do. If the emotion stealing fish was an actual threat it would be best to regroup with everybody else, more so because he wanted to protect them from it. What kind of fish stole emotions anyways? It wasn't right. Perfect way to ruin this whole being a fish thing.

"I say we explore the city," Toby declared, a smile slowly creeping upon his face. The idea came about with the intention of finding and protecting the others, but as the boy spoke the words he realized how much fun it would be to roam about an abandoned city freely. Just like that, being a fish was fun again. "No time to lose!" He shouted with enthusiasm. Just as the boy was about to zoom headfirst into the city gates, Niran yelled their names with excitement.

Ina, Rils, Tobs! We have to go explore the fair grounds. It's super freaking awesome.

In disbelief, the boy searched eagerly for what Niran was talking about. That's when he saw it, and oh boy was it beautiful. "No waaaaaay, I didn't even see that!" Toby looked back and forth between the ferris wheel and the rest of Orion, conflicted as to what his priorities should be. As soon as Niran sped off towards the fair grounds he couldn't help but follow. "Just a quick detour," He told himself. Victoria would probably be disappointed if she saw how weak the boy was in refusing a carnival visit. He would try not to think about that whilst enjoying himself.

As they approached the ticket booth, Toby looked nervously to Niran who remained quiet for a brief moment. He was already plotting to sneak in when their optimistic elder floated right inside, a green light in the eyes of the cheery blonde who charged through the ticket booth and into the fair grounds.

Zooming through game booths and maneuvering around various carnival like obstacles, Toby sped through the fair wanting to see every inch of it in as little time as possible, a radiant smile plastered on his face as he curiously observed the rides, games and prizes surrounding him.

Then suddenly, lights. Everywhere. The games and rides burst to life illuminating the boys face. Toby rushed through the carnival, eagerly searching for the others to celebrate their new playgrounds.

"Guys, you guys! Look wh- oh geez uh," the sight of the roaring popcorn machine was startling, Toby half prepared himself for some type of attack.

Last one to the rides deals with the mess!

"aauuuuhhhhmmmm i'd rather not!" Wide eyed, Toby briefly observed the monstrosity for a brief moment more before swimming without hesitation to the ferris wheel.

 

[Fox of Spades]

North: Victoria, C, Gary and Ace

"Sunken treasure..." C seemed to like the sound of that, though to be honest, it was hard to tell whether or not the girl was excited. "We can buy more of Mr. Cuddle's tarts." The hooded figure nodded rapidly to herself and ignored everything else in favor of the non-existent treasure. "Where is the treasure?" Before she could ask more questions, Ace had zipped off towards an abandoned looking house.

Oh...the black pearl. It was getting harder and harder to stay focused. C slapped herself lightly on the cheek and tried to think of home. "Gary, let's make sure bigger fish don't get to her." And with that, the mermaid in the green cloak began swimming towards the same empty home. It wasn't very big and the furniture was scattered all over the place. There was broken TV and an overturned couch. All the lights were off and the place wasn't very bright.

Victoria could handle herself. C felt confident of that, but as for Ace and Gary...well, she was worried they would do something loud and stupid. The two didn't exactly get along, but they were similar in more ways than one. "Gary, Ace, we should be quiet. Someone might still be here."

And as if on cue a soft and frightened voice rang throughout the small cottage. It seemed to be coming from the second floor. "Travis? Is that you? M-Man, this isn't funny." There was a pause. "Travis?"

C raised a hand into the air and motioned for her teammates to hide, but just as she did, a young merman began floating down the stairs, he was hugging a frying pan to his chest and trying his best to look brave.

"Travis, budd—" the merman's eyes landed on Victoria and then on everyone else, and he backed into one of the walls in fright causing a couple of picture frames to fall to the ground and shatter on impact. "You aren't Travis. Where's Erik and Cindy? Who are you?" He stuck out the frying pan, but his hands were shaking badly.

C raised her own hands in a gesture of surrender. They outnumbered the boy, but he didn't look like a threat and she didn't want to give him a heart attack. Hopefully Gary wouldn't go into attack mode and scare him out of his wits. "We're just looking for clues. We aren't here to hurt anyone, we're good fish." C didn't believe the last part, she and the hooded figures had done many horrible things...

The young merman stared at them suspiciously before deciding to lower his weapon. "Okay, yeah. Good fish. Got it."

C didn't say anything, just nodded her head to reaffirm what had already been said. She hoped Ace or Victoria would try to say something comforting...she wasn't good with words anymore. Gary was good with words, but that was when she would suddenly start talking smart.

"I'm just a little frazzled," the boy said as he ran a hand through his hair. "I'm Adrian. Travis is my friend, a merman with a blue tail and dark spiky hair. He's a little taller than me, did you guys see anyone like him? He was with our other friends, Cindy and Erik. We got split up when this huge fish with empty eyes came charging through the north side." Adrian shuddered. "I think the fish might still be out there."

♠ ♠ ♠​

West: Sacha, Numair, Leila, Harper

Apparently, the black pearl could be anywhere within the city. Finding it would be difficult but Harper bit back a frown and nodded his head. Sacha was talking to Leila about the emotion stealing fish, so he directed his question at Numair and gave the dolphin a tap on the shoulder. "Numair? This black pearl. Do you think it's going to be a literal pearl?" The question sounded kind of silly, but hey, the Siren's song wasn't a real song but a memory. There was a chance the black pearl wasn't a pearl at all. "The second item on the list was a siren's song, but in the end, it wasn't a song at all."

Harper followed after Sacha and soon enough they found themselves in an abandoned marketplace. The stalls were empty and it didn't look like anyone was around. What were they supposed to look for? Harper narrowed his eyes and saw a gleam of silver from behind one of the fruit stands. "I think there might be something over there...a pin?" The boy picked it up, but as soon as he did, he felt a sharp pain shoot through his tail. The next thing Harper knew, he was danging upside down and watching with wide eyes as three fish people leaped out from behind empty stalls with giant nets.

A big and bulky whale man shook his head then chuckled heartily. "Celery, my heart was racing. You're just a bunch of scrawny mermen a jellyfish and an octopus. For a second there, we thought we had caught it.

He slapped his friends' backs and continued to laugh, the merman with blue hair looked a little offended.

"I thought you were one them," the blue-haired boy admitted. "They're attracted to emotions and they give me the heebie-jeebies." He shot a pointed glare at the whale man. "Nice to meet some fellow merfolk. I'm Ast, these are Olson and Felicia."

The whale man gave them a salute and Felicia waved.

"Sorry if we scared you, we just can't be too careful anymore." And then she kicked Olson in the shin, but the burly whale just laughed. "These idiots can be so paranoid."

"Yeah...we've got a good reason to be. Anyways, I'll get you down." Ast untied the rope around Harper's tail and the clownfish fell down with a soft thud.

"So," Olson didn't look impressed. "Aren't you going to introduce yourselves or something? Cat got your tongue?" He didn't even give them a chance to respond, Olson let out a roar and plucked Sacha and Numair off the ground with ease. He held the boys over his head for a few moments then laughed when he noticed the terrified expression on Harper's face. A loud ringing laugh echoed throughout the empty marketplace and he placed the boys down and ruffled their hair condescendingly. "Just kidding, like I said we don't bite."

"For Celery's sake!"

Both the blue-haired boy and the whale stopped to stare at the green-skinned fish girl.

"Stop acting like children!" She slapped the whale across the face and turned to look at the humans. "He's not so obnoxious once you get to know him, promise." Olson flashed her a grin and she shook her head and sighed. "You know, most of the people have left...and I've never seen you people around." Felicia gave them all a curious glance. "What are people like you doing here? Orion isn't exactly a tourist favorite at the moment."

Harper shot Sacha and Numair a curious glance. How much were they supposed to tell? Were the hooded figures wanted criminals in Orion too. It wasn't the idea situation, but at least they weren't dead. Harper swam up to Leila and gave the girl a reassuring smile.

♠ ♠ ♠​

South: Ran, Inadi, Toby, Riley

An abandoned fair, Riley beamed, today was definitely their lucky day. "I see it, I see it. No need to shout, Ranran." She laughed at the man's enthusiasm, he was the coolest grownup she had ever met. "I agree!" The girl slammed a fist into her open palm and grinned deviously at her companions. "We've got to check this place out, y'know, the pearl might be here." She shrugged and gave Inadi a grin. Riley hoped he wouldn't call them out for being childish.

"C'mon, Tobs. The pearl could be here. Besides, we need to make sure and check every corner." Like Ran, there was no persuading the redhead, she was set on exploring the carnival grounds, partly because Ran's laughter was so contagious and partly because she had always loved carnivals. The lights, the games, the rides, everything made her feel right at home.

They strolled past the ticket booth like rebels and made their way inside. The fair looked prettier from the outside and Riley stopped in her tracks. "Hey, Ran." She didn't want to crush his spirits, but it didn't look like any of the rides would work anymore. She was going to break the news, but before she could say a thing all the lights crackled to life and carnival music filled the air. "Gods," it had caught the girl off guard, but soon she was starring at the lights. They looked a lot more pretty underwater, eerie, but still beautiful.

Riley liked exciting things, but she had enough sense to worry. "Inadi, this isn't very good is it? I'm guessing everything in a five-mile radius is going to know we're here."

The popcorn machine began going crazy and Toby and Ran started swimming off towards the Ferris wheel. Riley wanted to worry, but ended up laughing things off. "C'mon, Inadi. We can't lose to those two." Without saying anything else, the redhead zipped off towards the Ferris wheel.

Upon arrival, she swung an arm around Toby's and Ran's necks and pulled both boys into a headlock. "Traitors," she laughed. "The both of you are dirty traitors." She ruffled their hair up a bit then arched an eyebrow at the ride that towered above them. "I hate to break it to you, guys, but I think this thing isn't gonna work. It looks ancient. And to prove her point Riley slapped the big red button on one of the control panels.

"See." She tried it again but this time the sound of groans filled the air. "What the..."

It was a constant humming in the background, but it kept growing louder...closer. Riley spun around and the next thing she saw made her tumble back and into Ran. Around twenty pairs of glowing eyes peered at them hungrily. They were just like zombies, but they weren't drawn towards the trio by the promise of brains. No, they were drawn by the promise of emotions.

They were an army of slack-jawed and drooling aquatic creatures and they groaned emptily as they continued their approach.

"Shit," a few other curses left Riley's mouth, but what did it matter? They were surrounded.

​

"What the hell?" Through her binoculars she noticed the sudden chaos. The emotionless were usually harmless and calm, but something had triggered a violent reaction. She was guessing it was the sudden music and lights, but who was stupid enough to turn those on? Her eyes landed on the fishfolk who had their backs to the Ferris Wheel, and the mermaid scoffed.

She thought about leaving them for dead. It would be her fault and no one would know. It would be natural selection. Those who were dumb as a bag of bricks died, it was nothing personal.

But then again, Madeline wasn't a bad fish and they had to stick together if they wanted to survive this thing. Plus, she had kind of been assigned by the mayor to keep an eye on the carnival grounds and he wouldn't be happy if she allowed a bunch of idiots to just die while she was capable of helping.

She moved a bookshelf from in front of one of her windows and threw them open. "HEY, NUMBSKULLS!" The girl waved both hands in the air and tried to get their attentions. "ROCKS FOR BRAINS!" If they didn't hear her, it wasn't her fault. "Get your butts in here if you want to live!"

She had barricaded herself in one of the souvenir shops. It was about 200 meters from the Ferris wheel, but if they worked together and hurried then they would probably be able to make it.
​

♠ ♠ ♠​

​

​

Jail: Luke and Jasper

"I don't have time for this, none of us have time for troublemakers anymore." There was a slam followed by a soft click, the door to jail cell number seven had been locked. "I'm supposed to be helping Felicia out with the carnival," the man grumbled to himself and sighed, if his friends got hurt and he wasn't there, he would feel guilty as hell. "Tch, now I have to babysit a bunch of troublemakers, what were you doing at city hall?"

Phillip leaned towards the iron bars and narrowed his eyes. "Why were you going through the mayor's files?"
​

​

Jasper looked absolutely defeated. "We were looking for the black pearl." Lying would be of no use to them now, so she decided to just tell him the truth.

Unlike the girl beside him, Luke was still grinning. "Chill, she's telling the truth. We're just looking for the pearl."

"In the file cabinet?" the guard snapped. "Why would a pearl be there?"

The cloaked male shrugged. "Beats me."

"How did you even get inside?" Phillip's face was red and he felt like slamming his head into a wall.

Jasper looked slightly irritated as well and a part of her felt sorry for the fish man.

Luke dug into his pockets and pulled out a bunch of bobby pins. "I picked the lock." Instead of feeling shame, he was filled with pride and the boy puffed up his chest and laughed, until the guard stuck in his hands and confiscated it all. Soon enough, Luke was asked to confiscate his cloak as well.

"I'll be watching over you two until further notice, so get comfortable, you could be here for awhile."
​

 

[MixedUpGuy]

Being surrounded by a bunch of carnival rides in an abandoned fair under the ocean wasn't quite as big a childhood dream as it was for Niran for Inadi. In fact he would have much rather been in a place surrounded by other things and fish in a completely empty part of the ocean. Something about this whole place seemed like it was a nightmare waiting to happen. And normally when Inadi had that feeling, he was proven right before the next minute was even starting. But seeing the giant seaweed cotton candy machine practically explode in front of him did generate at least a partial chuckle.

Looking over to Ran as he began running towards the rides Inadi screamed out to him. "Carnies don't like it when you break their machines Ran! You better hope they don't kidnap you and make you a part of the show!" He joked as he looked back at Toby and Riley. Granted he wasn't too comfortable here, but maybe they were do for a little R&R in the end. Giving them a quick shrug he went over to the machine and ripped out a hand full of the cotton candy and took a small nibble of it. The taste was a little bitter compared to old cotton candy he was used to, but surprisingly decent considering that. "It's actually not that bad. Try some if you wa....." Right as Inadi turned around Toby and Riley had already taken off further into the fair. Rolling his eyes he grabbed a few more handfuls out of the machine that was still producing the sweets. "Always on the move."

Finally kicking his fins towards the others he was able to catch up Riley while Toby seemed intent on the Ferris wheel. The girl reacted to him and he gave her a quick shrug. "At this point its kind of hard to imagine any of us are without being noticed. Don't forget the others probably got into the city riding in the mouth of a giant whale. Anything that big is hard to miss in truth. But this," Inadi said pointing to the lights and all the different rides, his hand still full of cotton candy as he took a quick nibble before looking back at Riley. "Definitely not going to be under anybody's radar I think."

As the other two in their group, Ran and Toby, continued becoming children all over again Inadi smiled as he began swimming towards them behind Riley at her mention. Once Riley got the two in a head lock Inadi swam in front of them and handed them some of the seaweed cotton candy he had collected for them. "Honestly it isn't terrible. I don't know if its because we're fish now or what but it does have a bit of flair to it." He joked as he floated the two handfuls at them. Turning back to the wheel he shook his head and laughed. "Yeah I think Riley has a point. This thing looks like it would fall apart just by touching it!" He joked as his laughter quickly stopped with a quick sighting of strange looking fish. Glowing eyes with little to no looks on their faces.

Inadi let out a quick scoff and looked around them. There was a lot more than just two or three groups. Seemed like they had been stalking them for a while with how they had surrounded the group. No sounds came from them. Not even a groan at times. But once they got close enough that was when you could hear them. They certainly didn't seem very pleased at their appearance in the carnival and Inadi couldn't help but be reminded of the old Witch from Sol and her stupid little zombies. Different land same damn problems.

Inadi suddenly heard a call from a bit of a ways off and noticed waving arms in the distance. Safezone? Trap? Who really knew at this point, but the fact that this thing was talking rather than groaning only meant that it would at least be possible to reason with whoever was there. Looking over at Toby and Ran he gave them a quick nudge to get their attention. "I don't know if its the best plan, but its the only one we got. Get over to where that fish person is and get inside as quickly as you can. Don't give these....things a chance to collapse on you," He told them as he looked at the numbers around them. It wouldn't be easy to get there, but at least they had an option here. "And whatever you do, don't get separated. I'll see what this stupid nose thing is good for." He told them as he decided to try something really stupid.

With a quick wave of his head he swung his nose at the emotionless fish, causing them to step back being wary of his weapon. Inadi quickly brought his head back to look at the direction of the safe room. It was far, but it shouldn't be too bad to clear the path this way. It was better than just pushing all the way through. "Well come on then! These things aren't going to just let us walk by!" He yelled at them as he gave another swing of his head. The fish again stepped back with a moan, trying to find some kind of opening but quickly having whatever was there close with another swing. Pushing a row of them aside, he began making his way to the spot where that merperson was at. Suddenly that stupid looking nose was proving to be useful. Now if he could just figure out how to keep himself from losing his glasses as he adjusted them and continued trying to clear a path for the others behind him.

 

[Warden]

"Dude, let's just hope it's a real pearl. And a small one! Imagine if it's as big as the displays in Disneyland!" Numair gestured over his head with his hands and laughed at a memory that suddenly resurfaced in his mind. "Hey so, my friend Tom and I went to Disneyland once. I think it was a group outing but anyway, I was with him and we saw this big ass clam propped up, and then he gets the grand idea to sit on the pearl. He handed me the camera and," the surfer paused and pursed his lips out in thought, "I forgot what happened next, but if I'm going to guess the clam probably shut and he got stuck inside until we were helped by the guards."

Hmm, it wasn't that funny anymore since he forgot the punchline…

They arrived at a marketplace that was just as deserted as the other parts of the city. "Reminds you of a zombie apocalypse setting, doesn't it?" he muttered to Leila before swimming lower to inspect the buildings. Suddenly, Harper did a thing and then there were new people. Numair, and probably Sacha too, tensed up and readied for battle, but it seemed like the three were just terrified civilians who wanted to catch the evil fish/emotion-eating Nemo/Fish-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named/It.

"Riiiight. Ast, Felicia, Olson- whoa!"

The whale man picked him and Sacha up without even breaking a sweat! Yep, totally not looking forward to trading punches with this fellow. Soon as they were put down, Numair stared at Olson with a healthy mix of reverence and awe.

"What? Oh, why we're here? There's a thing here we're supposed to get. A rare ingredient. I didn't expect to see the town empty, though. With that weird evil fish swimming around, are you three safe out here? Are we safe talking out in the open like this? Nice traps, by the way," the surfer coughed and hit his chest twice. He wasn't as good as Victoria was in lying, but at least the things he said were true enough to be believable.

Change topic!

"I'm Numair, that's Sacha-" poor dude got something stuck to his tentacles again, "this one's Harper, and Leila's the pretty jellyfish."

Ugh, her head was hurting.

Victoria watched as Ace zipped ahead of the group, Gary sunk lower and lower before galloping to the side or rolling around on the sea floor, and C swam along with her eyes listlessly trained on the horizon. Great. Perfect team. Thankfully, she had a long tail that allowed her to swim faster than the others did, so she kept a position in the middle of the group- near enough to check on Gary in case she angered some sleeping turtle with the pole, but not far enough to be left by Ace.

"Pirate ships. Ooh, now that we're mermaids we can explore those!" Victoria's eyes brightened and she perked up, going so far as to swing from side to side to check out for wrecks in the distance. Unfortunately, a ship couldn't possibly have crashed on the outskirts of a city without being picked clean then demolished by the cleaners. While the huntress was searching for ships, Gary went on after Ace and, since she was going full speed, ended up crashing over an upturned couch. This happened exactly when C told her to be quiet.
Since she was still winded and Victoria was just entering the house by this point, nobody was able to hide before a redhaired merman wafted in the room. He had a frying pan and was stammering about someone named Travis. Poor thing was shaking so badly…

"You aren't Travis. Where's Erik and Cindy? Who are you?"

"TRAVIS IS DEAD AND YOU'RE NEXT!"

"Oh for the love of celery!"

Gary got tackled to the floor- again- and Victoria straightened up with a huff. "Name's Victoria, fellow redhead's Ace. The dead-looking one's called C and this idiot is Gary. Travis isn't dead. We don't even know him. Sorry, but we haven't seen anyone of that descript-," the nobody paused and ran her finger over her lower lip. "You're saying a 'huge fish with empty eyes' is in the north area? This area?"

"That's probably what killed Travis."

"Shut. Up. Gary. Travis isn't dead," Victoria hissed at the girl, picked her up from the floor and dusted her off, then turned to Adrian. "Are we in danger? C, Ace, close the door and the windows." Despite her bravado and current lack of panic, the huntress didn't want to engage in what sounded to be like the apathy fish so early on. They were all in the formative phase of their fish bodies yet, none of them used enough to be able to evade complex attacks, so it was best for them to avoid such confrontations.

 

[Capt. Blu]

When Ace got inside, she expected nothing less than what she saw. Furniture was flipped and scattered. When she tried to flip a switch, the lights didn't come on. Even the tv was broken. "Huh...It reminds me of when-" Ace paused for a moment. "Of when..." Ace scratched her head. She could have sworn she was going to say something about the mess. But as soon as she tried to think of it, it slipped her mind. "Man..." Ace pulled her hat down more and shook her head. "Never mind. It wasn't important..." As she swam, moving the overturned furniture Ace focused on her thoughts. 'My name is Ace Tain. I'm 18. I'm apart of a gang...whose name I don't remember. I remember Boss' face, but not his name...I also remember a Tyler...Whoever that is. Um, I was at an orphanage. I don't remember the name of it. Then again, I think I forgot that before I started losing my memory. And...my hat! I remember where I got it and why I have it. Her internal monologue was interrupted first by C, then by a foreign voice.

"Who's Travis?" She swam to the bottom of the steps, only to see a red head merman at the top with a frying pan. She had completely missed C's call for cover. Just as he spotted them, he panicked. Ace only watched with a raised brow, waiting for him to relax. Normally, they usually stopped when they realized strangers weren't attacking...at least she thought so. As C reassured him, Ace slowly swam forward only to pause when Gary decided to scare the kid to literal death.

"Ah, don't worry about short stuff over there. She's gone cuckoo and can't think straight." With a grin, she pointed to the frying pan. "You know, you can't fool anyone with how bad you're shaking. If you're going to pretend to be tough, you have to act the part too!" She grinned again and looked over at the others. "Huh? Oh, yeah. Good fish and all. Just looking for treasure. Obviously it's not here..." She looked over her shoulder at Victoria before shaking her head. "Nope! We don't know a Travis. But I'm sure he's not dead." Ace put two thumbs up, not too sure why she decided to reassure the redheaded merman.

She then swam away from him in order to get to the windows. "Uh, can't really close a window that's broken." She looked around and then pushed a table towards the window in order to cover it. "Alrighty. That should work...for the most part. If not, we can escape from the back way. There is a back way right Adrian? If not, I'm sure barricading our only exits wouldn't be a bright idea." She glanced over at Gary before pointing out the door.

"We could also use Pinkie as bait. I'm sure her craziness will attract something. Then you know, trap it and go back to finding our buried treasure- by the way, you haven't happened to see a...what was it a pearl? Black one? Around here anywhere?"

 

[Gossamer]

"Hey Ran, after the ferris wheel do you think we can play some games?" Toby asked excitedly as he swam backwards to the ferris wheel, his body facing Niran
"How's about's we have ourselves a good ol' fashioned western shoot-off at that them bottles o'er yonder hmm?" He spoke in the best western accent he could muster as the two trotted along.
"Hey Ran, what if the wheel stops spinning and we're stuck at the top? Oh ummm wait we're underwater and I think we could just kinda swim back down if that happens. Hey Ran do you think fish go to colleg-AGH" Out of nowhere, Riley intervened Toby's rambling and had both him and Niran in a headlock.

"Nuh uh, I ain't no traitor! I'm in it to win it, yo!" The boy shouted and pretended to struggle in the red-heads grip before giggling as she ruffled their hair. Suddenly Inadi was in front of them with a handful of what looked like cotton candy. Toby's mouth began to water. The moment Inadi floated a piece towards him he ripped himself from Riley's grasp and caught the treat with his mouth before chewing it curiously.
​

Honestly it isn't terrible. I don't know if its because we're fish now or what but it does have a bit of flair to it.​

"Gee, this stuff has just been sitting here huh" he asked with a mouth full of cotton candy "I sure wonder what it would taste like fresh."
​

I hate to break it to you, guys, but I think this thing isn't gonna work. It looks ancient.​

​

Yeah I think Riley has a point. This thing looks like it would fall apart just by touching it!​

The boy squinted his eyes at the two. "Okay Inadi, I get why you wouldn't want to go up there and all, I totes get's it, but Riley?" he scoffed, and proceeded to fold his arms with a devilish expression on his face, "You mean to tell me someone of your chaotic reputation isn't going to swim up to that spooky old ferris wheel with Ran and I?"

The moment Riley pressed the red button on the control panel, Toby gazed at the ferris wheel confident that it would begin spinning. It would be a tiny miracle, all things considered. The fact that the lights and music were working was a miracle in itself. Still, he was disappointed to see that the ferris wheel was without a doubt out of order.

When Riley pressed the button for the second time, Toby could clearly hear groaning. He had been staring at the control panel when the noise happened, and as a result it looked as if the control panel itself was groaning. He attempted to hold his laughter, but soon gave in and burst out laughing for just a brief moment.

"Oh, oh gosh. I think that machine is secretly a tired old man." He took a moment to regain his posture. "Ah, who needs a lame old ferris wheel anyways." The boy turned to Niran and Riley, "Hey have you guys ever sat in one of those giant tea cups that spin around? I don't think you need electricity for that junk to work, just gravity y'know. I betcha C and the others would be so jealous that we got to sit in a giant tea cup, assuming they have one-um....uh, Riley?"

Toby wasn't looking directly at the others as he spoke, so it took a moment for him to notice the expression on Riley's face. The moment he stopped speaking, the groaning sounds could be heard again. He turned around to find a mob of all sorts of groaning sea creatures.

"Carnies?" The boy said aloud and turned to Inadi, pondering whether or not his carnie kidnap theory he mentioned earlier was coming to life and this army of sea creatures was here to snatch Niran away and turn him into their main event.

"Hey you guys, maybe Orion isn't so empty after all?" Toby said with a forced smile and false optimism. The carnival put him in a very good mood, but it was clear that something was quite wrong. A mob of slack-jawed emotionless fish had to be anything but good.

And that's when it clicked, and Toby's heart sank.
​

This emotion stealing fish really scared everyone away.​

"Oh...oh no," The boy was suddenly filled with immense regret. He should've beckoned Niran to venture into Orion and search for the others instead of playing around in a carnival. These emotion stealing fish were an actual threat, and in great numbers too. These couldn't be the only ones in the city, meaning the others could also be in danger too. Toby's fists clenched and he began breathing heavily. It was happening. His friends were in danger.

"Not good, not good, not good,"
​

HEY, NUMBSKULLS! ROCKS FOR BRAINS! Get your butts in here if you want to live!​

Because of the strangers rather rude vocabulary, Toby was under the impression Gary was the one shouting at them. However the boy was still gazing at the army of emotionless before them. A quick nudge from Inadi snapped him back to consciousness. "UHM, YOU'RE NOT REALLY PLANNING TO FIGHT THEM WITH YOUR NOSE ARE YOU?!" He was panicking now, and couldn't help but scream the words. He wasn't clear which scenario was the scariest; his friends losing their emotions or himself.

Inadi's idea seemed to be working as the four of them made their way to the mystery person, but the safe room felt like it was miles away. Not to mention they were easily outnumbered thirty to one. It didn't help that there were at least a dozen game booths surrounding them filled with stuffed animals that were as ancient as the fair grounds and looked as emotionless as the fish people surrounding them.

"Oh!" Toby's eyes lit up. The amount of time he spent in Nowhere had deprived him of many memories from the real world, but being surrounded by game booths in a carnival was enough to bring back one, assuming it had already been lost in the first place.

"I'll be back!" He shouted, and without hesitation he zoomed into the crowd of emotionless, his heart beating at a maddening pace. The boy collided into one of the many booths causing stuffed animals, glass bottles and horseshoes to fall all over the place.

He recalled a trip to the carnival he had taken years ago with people he could no longer remember. The memory was vague and foggy but what stood out the most was the satisfaction of winning a game at one of the many booths the carnival provided and the excitement one felt as they watched an employee pluck a teddy bear off the wall using some type of grabbing stick.

"Gotcha! Oh geez, thank the celery gods," He muttered. Inside the booth was a cabinet that held said grabbing stick. Toby grabbed the stick and shot right up from under the booth as if he were about to setup a game for a couple of excited children, however instead of children he was met with a crowd of eerie, emotionless fish that craved his feelings.

"LEAVE ME ALONE" The boy screamed, and began to wave the grabbing stick violently in front of the emotionless. They floated backwards, away from the sticks wrath, and that's when Toby bolted into the sea of fish people once more. He swam just inches from the ground, twirling and maneuvering through their tails and out of their grasp.

He managed to find his way back to the others in no time. Inadi was clearing a path from the front, but that still left the sides and back vulnerable. Toby floated behind the group and began swinging the grabbing stick wildly as Inadi cleared a path from the front using his nose-sword. Even with the two of them keeping the emotionless somewhat at bay, the safe room still felt miles away to the boy and considering the number of fish people surrounding them they probably wouldn't be able to hold out for long.​

 

[four]

"Reminds you of a zombie apocalypse setting, doesn't it?"

Zombie apocalypse setting.

Leila hovered still as she surveyed the surroundings - abandoned stores, toppled shelves, shattered glass, half-collapsed architecture. Water still and stale, layer of dust settled.
She did not want to admit to either being not imaginative enough to make all of the connections, nor to being unwilling to think in detail back to the closest scene she could remember resembling a zombie apocalypse. A scene a little too real, in fact.

"...slightly, yes."

She dropped the thought as she carried on swimming.
The discussions she overheard contained some very valid points of which she herself was aware: looking for something was exceptionally hard when she had no idea what that something was exactly supposed to be. Soon Leila found herself reduced to only trailing along making unorganized inspections of what lay around them while anticipating what the others would come across.

Pin.

Directing her sight towards where Harper's sound was coming from, a quick sweep across the ground revealed to Leila the protruding segment of the angled piece of metal that had Harper's attention - as well as the segments of exposed string only half-covered by the items that crowded the floor. Instinctively she traced her vision along the path of the string, which led her to a collection of interlinked planks and sticks, placed behind what was once a front of a store. From which extended upwards a length a rope, tensed; following the support of a half-collapsed beam before dangling back onto the ground, ending in a loop around -

- wait.

"No Harper don't -"

Her rough estimates of the forces exerted by the contracting loop could range anywhere between bruising to vertebrae-snapping and she was absolutely unsure what to expect from Harper inevitably picking up the pin before he could react to the late warning.

Freezing in fear, fortunately, just happened to be an appropriate reaction to three previously hidden creatures revealed themselves and turning everything into an incomprehensible hailstorm of questions and exclamations.

It seemed that Harper wasn't badly hurt. As he was released, Leila bobbed over and tried to help Harper get back on his non-existent feet, only to struggle with the puffy jellyfish mass getting a bit in the way.

There would probably be evidence of her feeling surprisedly flattered towards how Numair introduced her if not for the fact that it was impossible for a blush to appear on a translucent skin that lacked bloodstream below.
In a gesture of politeness she waved towards the strangers, trying hard to recall their identities in the mean time. Ast, Felicia, Olson - the dialogue initially was hard to follow, but she eventually caught up through the bits and pieces here and there.

Blue, green, whale. Wasn't that difficult.

But why did a dead city have residents?

"One of them." Leila muttered as she thought, then repeated clearer after devising her way to place the questions:

"You said you thought we were one of them. One of whom?" She then peeked at Numair - keeping in mind his references to this evil fish, and his appearing to know exactly what he was speaking of - then at the rope, now loosened and piled against the ground.

"...And what exactly was it that you were trying to capture?"

She asked the questions as politely as it was possible for her; although it might just be noticeable that she yet treated the strangers - the environment as a whole now, in fact - as a possible threat.
Leila's thoughts drifted for a moment to the other members of their group, currently surveying different areas of the city. The various references to them and it; that the town wasn't as devoid of life as they initially thought. She winced at the thoughts, only then dismissing her imagination as being unnecessarily vivid. Did she hear some very, very faint hint of a commotion going on in the distant background?

Nah. They were probably going to be fine.

 

[Fox of Spades]

Post by @Ryver Rhine

"Awww Rils! You know we love you," Ran teased as he intended to break free. It proved to be a challenge as the young girl was much swifter than he was. He mock pouted as he raised his hands in defeat. The horseplaying stopped when Inadi came over two odd looking green tufts. Ran considered rejecting the offer, but gamely opened his mouth instead. He chewed and chewed and chewed somemore. How could anyone ever claim this stuff to be cotton candy? It felt like a mix of glass noodles, treacle, seaweed and soyu. He turned around and spat it out when the others weren't looking. He gave a small start and glanced over his shoulder. This place was starting to creep him out.

"What's that?" He asked suddenly then fell silent. They were surrounded by the freakiest, non-zombielike zombies. Immediately he wrapped his arms protectively round the orange hair girl. "Whatever happens, Rils, just run when you get the chance."

The situation was slowly becoming more dire as these creatures homed in on them. He moved back while keeping a vice-like grip on Riley. Almost like a miracle, a strange mermaid freed them from their horror-filled inertia, and soon they were bolting for their lives with Inadi in the lead. Niran refused to let go of Riley's wrist even when she was lagging behind. He was so worried about her that he forgot about a certain bubbly boy. When he looked up, Toby was gone. "Toby! TOBY!"

He twisted around as he searched for the familiar mop of curly blonde hair among the soulless mob. He wanted to dart among the zombies to rescue the boy when someone pulled him back. He was about to yell at the person restraining him when Toby reappeared with a stick in hand. "Toby, I don't know if I wanna.."

Ran pulled the boy into a tight hug before pinching his nose. He was more relieved than mad at the moment, but after this, he and Tobs needed to talk. Grabbing hold of Riley's wrist once more, he led the remaining two onward. "Come on you two, Inadi is waiting for us."

He grabbed hold of Toby's stick as Riley entered the safe house first. "In you go, Toby after Inadi. I'll go in last."

 

[Fox of Spades]

North: Victoria, C, Gary,Ace and Adrian

Dead? The world around Adrian spun and it looked like he was going to pass out at any moment. The merman steadied himself as C popped up from behind Victoria and repeated what the ex dragoon had said. "Adrian, Travis isn't dead." She had to repeat it a couple of times but soon the boy jerked his head up and blinked slowly. "He's not? That's a relief," he rubbed hugged himself and shivered. "If Adrian was dead, I wouldn't know what to tell the others or what to do, I've known him since we were in first grade—" The boy snapped out of whatever trance he was in and sighed. "Sorry, I've never been so scared in my life."

Victoria and Ace got down to business and the frazzled merman nodded stiffly as if he were a traumatized bomb survivor. "No, I don't think we're safe. If it wanted to, it could crash through the walls at any moment."

Gary continued talking about how Travis was dead but Ace said something about her being a little crazy. Adrian just nodded."It was here, it could be anywhere by now. But even if it were gone, we still have to worry about the emotionless...they won't hurt us though, unless we do something loud or attention grabbing."

C was closing everything the could be closed, she started with the cabinets then went on to the drawers.

"There's a back door," Travis picked up the frying pan he had somehow dropped then put on a brave face. "I'm going back out there to find them and as for a black pearl...the mayor has a key with a black pearl in it," Adrian sounded curious. "But why do you want to know about that? Anyways, thanks for calming down, I needed it."

"We're going with you," C sounded like she was there and not a thousand miles away. "And we're not using Gary as bait..." Usually, the hooded figure spoke calmly but there was a hint of annoyance in her voice. She didn't know much anymore, but the hooded figures were family and if anyone tried to do anything to her family, she'd throw a knife right through their eyes. The girl gave Ace a glare that looked more confused then angry then made her way towards the back door and out into the ocean.

It was a ghost town. There was not a single fish in sight and most houses had their doors and windows barricaded. A few sea creatures will yellowish eyes staggered along the empty road, they were all moving in one direction and he wondered if they were heading towards Travis, Erik and Cindy. "I've never seen you around Orion," the small talk helped keep him calm. "I've been going to Mackerel high for a year now, you're not from here are you?"

"We're criminals," C said.

"Pardon?"

"Cold-blooded murders and thieves."

"What?" Adrian looked absolutely baffled, eyebrows arched and eyes wide and confused. "She's kidding, right?" Gary and C were a little loopy but Victoria and Ace seemed normal enough...he hoped. "You aren't out to rob the mayor are you?" The last part was more of a shriek than a whisper. Adrian clamped his hands over his mouth but the emotionless had spun around. An eerie groan filled the air and they began floating towards the merman and his companions.

C picked up a rock and rather casually, she asked if she could smash their skulls.

"What? No! No! Someone make her understand!" He was whispering frantically. "I knew those people! We don't want to hurt them." He was staring at Vicky with pleading eyes, "we just want to fix them." Adrian was so focused on defending them, that he hadn't really noticed how loud he was being.

C tapped both Vicy and Ace on the shoulder then pointed at all the emotionless that had crawled out of alleyways and abandoned houses.

♠ ♠ ♠​

West: Sacha, Numair, Leila, Harper, Ast, Felicia, and Olson

"An ingredient, huh?" Olson was grinning, but it was hard to miss the curiosity in the whale's tone. "Must be one hell of an ingredient if you folks are coming to Orion to get it." The whale leaned in real close and stared them all in the eye. "What ingredient are you folks looking for?"

Harper wanted to melt into a puddle but he followed Numair's lead and chuckled awkwardly. "Yeah, we're cooking up something really special."

Olson just shrugged, it wasn't any of his business. "Ah, looks like you folks have got quite a lot of questions." The whale's hearty laugh filled the entire marketplace and Ast and Felicia gave each other concerned glances.

"Olson, keep your voice down." The fish woman finally hissed.

The whale nodded and mumbled a small apology. "Uh, it's not exactly safe out here, but I can hold my own." He flexed his muscles a bit then laughed, "you don't look so bad yourself, Numair, yeah? Nice to meet ya folks! Nice taste in tats as well." He eyed the surfer's tattoos then held out a fist for Numair to pound.

Ast sighed then decided to get down to business. "We've been trying to capture the emotion stealing fish. I'm sure you've heard about it? Everyone nearby has. People have been leaving the city, but not us. We can't just run away, you know? If we want this problem solved, we'll need to do something about it."

"We work for the mayor," Felicia added in. "I'm surprised you don't know about what we're doing...huh?" The radio strapped to the fish woman's belt began crackling to life.

"Madeline here," the speaker sounded very pissed. "Spotted some folks at the carnival. Dumb as rocks and noisy as hell, they summoned the emotionless with their noise."

The radio died down before a male voice started to speak. "This is Phillip, been getting calls about the fish appearing in the north side. All able units, please head to the north side of the city."

"Looks like they found it." Olson stared at Numair and company and shrugged. "Hey, you kids better stay where it's safe until the fish gets caught. We need to head on out ASAP."

"Olson," it was was Ast. "We can't leave them here, the emotionless might find them."

"Ah, right. Crap. So, uh, you kids wanna go on an evil fish hunt with good ol' Olson?" Not like they had much of a choice. "We'll be making our way north, you'll need to keep quiet though or the emotionless will find us and it ain't gonna be pretty."

♠ ♠ ♠

South: Ran, Inadi, Toby, Riley, and Madeline

"Nice one Inadi—whoa, whoa!" Ran grabbed Riley by the wrist and pretty much swam like hell. If they weren't being chased by the ended, she would have laughed and congratulated him. "Left, left!" One of the emotionless nearly crashed into them, but Inadi's nose turned out to be pretty useful.

"Toby! TOBY!"

Toby. Riley looked around and through the crowd of glowing eyes and flailing tails, she couldn't see her friend. "We have to go back!" Riley was just about ready to swim towards the emotionless, but a mop of blonde hair and a rapidly swinging grabbing stick caught her eye. The aquatic creatures moved back sluggishly and Ran pulled the boy into a hug. The girl laughed a little but it was cut short, soon enough Ran was swimming at full speed with both Riley and Toby in his vice-like grip.

"They're gaining on you, get IN!" After Ran practically tossed the kids inside, Madeline grabbed him by the arm and pretty much yanked him into the room. She slammed the door shut soon after then started yelling at someone to help her barricade it with a bookshelf. Riley was a little dazed, but soon she was helping the woman move the shelf in front of the wooden door.

Madeline floated towards the lost souls and took a did breath. "YOU IDIOTS." She was glaring at all of them, though her eyes were focused on Ran. "How stupid can you people be? Who the hell starts blaring music when there are emotionless around!" She was starting to turn red in anger. "If any of you even have a brain, it's long nose over there." She nodded her head in Inadi's direction then swam up to ran and yanked him up by the arm. "Do you think this is some kind of game?" She had lowered her voice, but the venom was still there. "And you, your the adult in this group. What if those kids died, huh? What then? You think you're all grown up? Act the part or you're just another child."

Riley was fuming. "What the hell? What's your problem? If you haven't noticed we aren't children and you don't know anything about us or Ran!" She pulled Ran away from Madeline and glared. "We didn't ask for you help! You offered it."

"Well," Madeline scoffed, "you act like children and you would've been dead without me so shut it, fire head."

"All of you, a bunch of rocks for brains, especially him!" She was getting ready to chew Ran out again, but the radio strapped to her belt began crackling to life.

"Madeline, this is Felica speaking."

"Felicia, what's up? I ran into a bunch of idiots...but we managed to deal with the emotionless situation."

"It's been spotted up north. Phillip is requesting all able units to head there."

"Okay, okay, we'll catch up as soon as we can."

"Funny, Olson, Ast and I ran into a few people as well. Anyways, over and out."

Madeline was calmer now, she shook her head right and left then looked at the lost souls. "I lost my cool, sorry. I'm just sick of seeing people get turned into one of them. Anyways, are any of you hurt?"

 

[Cephalogod]

As he was lifted in the air without warning, Sacha had to force himself to not wrap his tentacles around the whale-man's- Er, Olson's arm. That would've been an awkward situation. Thankfully they were let down and Olson gave their respective scalps a very vigorous ruffle, sending poor Sacha's tentacles flailing again. Olson was certainly very boisterous, wasn't he? Luckily Felicia looked to be able to keep the man in line, it was rather amusing to see.

He was a bit preoccupied with prying a broken hunk of metal off of his appendage to introduce himself, but luckily Numair was nice enough to introduce them. "Yes, it's nice to meet you," Sacha nodded politely, blinking at the surfer curiously. Were they not going to ask them about the black pearl? Perhaps they knew about it. They did seem quite knowledgeable about things around here.

They bought the story about the ingredient easily enough, so he supposed it would do for now. No need complicating things, especially after the trio explained their mission.

"You're trying to capture it?" That sounded really dangerous. "How does it capture emotion? Isn't it bad if you get too close?"

The radio crackled to life, and he could only wince at the first report. It was almost certainly one the their groups, and he could only guess at which one.

"Ah, right. Crap. So, uh, you kids wanna go on an evil fish hunt with good ol' Olson?"

A nervous glance was shared between the four, but they didn't have much choice if they wanted to reconvene with the others. They nodded uncertainly and Olson let out another uproarious laugh before being silenced by a slap on the back of the head by Felicia. Ast seemed used to the duo's behaviour and merely motioned for them to follow. They moved towards the large shopping mall in the area behind the stalls, but instead of entering it they looped around.

"Less chance of getting cornered in case the emotionless decides to come after us," Ast explained. "We'll go through the back gate, then cut across the park."

 

[Capt. Blu]

"No, I don't think we're safe. If it wanted to, it could crash through the walls at any moment."

"Aha, so it's a big fish! Great!" There was a pause as Adrian gave a mortified look. "Eheh, the bigger the fish is, the harder it will fall...? Have you not heard of the saying?" He merely gave another weary look before talking again. "We can avoid the zombie fish. If all we have to do is stay quiet, just stop shrieking and we'll be a-okay." She teased as she peered through a space that was supposed to be filled to cover the window. Nothing was out there, at least nothing in range. With her hands, she created binoculars and pretended to look further ahead. "Nothing on the horizon Captain Vicky! Just empty coral fields and quietness....too quiet...uh, ness." She continued to scan until Adrian mentioned the black pearl.

As quick as she darted into the house was how fast she ended up in front of Adrian. "No way! You've just saved us a heck of a lot of time. You'd get a gold star if I had one. No time to sit here, let's-" She gave a playful pout when C for once actually looked upset. "Hehe, I was only kidding~ I wouldn't really use Pinkie as bait....maybe." Ace swam past Gary and patted her head. "Wouldn't be nice now would it?" Obviously neither C nor Gary appreciated the answer, however Adrian was already on the move out. "Don't just sit there slowpokes."

She swam alongside Adrian and looked around at the few zombies strolling around. "Hmph, they aren't very interesting. Ah well, best not to mess with them I suppose." Sure Ace thought about causing a ruckus and making the zombie fish upset, but she wasn't sure if they'd try to eat her brains- or simply just be a nuisance to get rid of. She decided to save the fun dangerous stuff for after they had the black pearl. "Murderers and thieves? I'm no mur-" Ace paused to think about all of her criminal activity. "No. I'm no murderer. A thief most definitely. Those three though, those three are crazy murderers. You should be careful around them." She whispered the last part and smiled. "Not to worry though. Our criminal activity is- oh yeah, if the mayor has our pearl we're going to steal it. Unless he gives it to is." She was matter of fact about it, even giving a nod. "It's for the greater good of our and friends of ours' well being. If we don't get that pearl, we'll be in a looooot of trouble. But sssh, that's all you can know."

Ace winked and then turned before hearing groans. "What did I say about the high pitched noises? Now look at- geez C, that's a bit brutal. I mean, they aren't even bloody and dead looking. They just look...empty." As they started to get surrounded, Ace cracked her knuckles. "Look at that, guess we do get to play too?" She looked over at Adrian. "Alright, where is the mayor's house...what is it, city hall? Yeah, that." After receiving her answer, she glanced at the others. "I don't know about you three, but I'm going to run through them. Like...like football! You fishies have football right? Doesn't matter, just ram through them and make sure not to get grabbed."

"That's- that's not a very good ideaaaaa!" Adrian wasn't prepared to be toted with her and braced himself. However, Ace realized they were going too slow for random charge throughs, so she made a quick turn upwards to go over the group.

"Yeesh. You should've mentioned they weren't going to rush at us. Hmph, now for plan B." She let go of Adrian's wrist and looked down at the other three from her high point. "Yo! What's plan B?" She couldn't stay up there forever considering those were fish and they could swim too. "Man, this sucks. We can't just like knock them unconscious or anything? It would prove efficient. They'll just have headaches when they get up..." Not fighting zombies was not apart of her list of cool things. If anything, zombie attacks were meant to be fought...and it was still no fair Gary had a pole! "Hey, I say we ditch the empties and get to the mayor. He's got our treasure!"

 

[MixedUpGuy]

Watching Toby leave to collect the stick for extra defense left Inadi in a somewhat nervous state but he knew they needed the help. Hoping the young man would return safe and sound, Inadi continued pushing and fighting his way to the secret location that the other fish person seemed to be holding out it. Toby then made his way back thankfully, and it then became much easier to navigate through all of the emotionless fish in their way.

Once the group found their way in Inadi took a deep breath and leaned against the wall of the building. Riley helped the woman that was calling out to them set a bookshelf on the door and it only made Inadi more concerned. That wouldn't hold up for long no doubt. And it was only a matter of time before those things outside decide to bash the door in with whatever force they could apply to it. Looking inside the building he could tell that this place wasn't a good spot to get into any kind of close quarters fight and prayed that there was some back door exit to it in case something like that happened.

And that was when the woman in the room suddenly started going off on all of them. Calling out Ran for being the only adult and how he shouldn't have been playing the music in the park. Then she even called Riley a....'fire head' was it. Wasn't a great comeback to be sure but Inadi had a feeling that he may have used that one before so he was not about to call attention to it. Instead he went over to Toby after the woman helped him off the wall and motioned to the stick still in his hand. "Smooth move getting that thing without getting caught. Thankfully some of us are good swimmers in this little posse of ours." He told the boy with a pat on the shoulder, hoping that the kid had calmed down a bit from all the excitement outside.

He then turned his attention to Ran as the woman in the middle began speaking on some kind of radio transmitter. "Don't sweat what she's saying Ran. It was an honest mistake in the end," He told the older man as he looked behind him towards the door they had just entered. The banging was already starting and it seemed like it was getting heavier by the second. No doubt they were trying to just break through the wall at this point. "Keep your head up and eyes about. Never know when we might need to start taking off again. And next time, do try to not play the hero too much. Trust me when I say that when you try pulling more weight than you can carry, you end up becoming a hindrance than an assistance." Inadi told Ran in reference to practically carrying Riley all the way there. If Riley had gotten snatched, it would have pulled him into the fray too. Then the situation would have caused a bigger panic than if just one person had gotten dragged away. They would need all hands on deck and at the ready if something like what happened earlier took place again.

Once the lady finished her discussion on the radio Inadi gave her a quick nod of acknowledgment to her apology. "We're fine I think for the most part. But mind telling us exactly what is going on with all these emotionless fish out here? We're new to the territory and to be honest, this is probably the longest swim a lot of us has had for the most part. Are these guys normally this aggressive?" Inadi began asking the woman, whom he thought he heard the name Madeline over the radio speaker. Whoever this Madeline was, he just hoped she was capable of helping them find the others in the area. Which reminded him, "Oh, also! We got separated from a group of our friends while we were on the whale bus into the city. Any idea where that might have dropped them off?" He finished as he began looking back at Riley and the others with a look of concern. He didn't want to move faster than they were ready to go, but being in such a small group with no idea where the others were made him nervous. Especially if those things outside the door were in large numbers. Hopefully they hadn't caught up to Harper, Ace, Leila, Jasper and the others.

 

[Gossamer]

Toby, I don't know if I wanna...

Wanna what?! He thought to himself. The boy was staring at Niran with wide eyes as the sounds of groaning surrounded them from every side, and was not in any way, shape or form in the talking mood. Toby's anxiety was skyrocketing, he wanted nothing more than to protect his friends to the point where it was maddening. Niran's brief pause felt like eternity and it drove the boy crazy. His knuckles the color white as he fiercely gripped the grabbing stick with both hands and held it to his chest, ready to protect the others at all costs. Without his family, Nowhere meant nothing.

And then, both in and out of the blue, Niran pulled Toby into a hug. For just a second, it was like the zombies weren't even there.

"I, uh"

The boy stuttered. A hug was the last thing he was expecting at the moment, his mind plagued with images of those he holds dear swimming around underwater without their emotions. A pinch on the nose brought Toby back to their rather dreadful predicament, and he full heartedly followed the others to the safe house. The grabbing stick being swung relentlessly the entire way.

Niran took hold of the stick as the others shuffled inside. Toby didn't calm down until his friend was inside and the entrance was blocked. Riley, Madeline and another shoved a bookshelf in front of the door as Inadi suddenly approached Toby, who was still somewhat disoriented.

Smooth move getting that thing without getting caught. Thankfully some of us are good swimmers in this little posse of ours.

"Thank you for being quick on your feet as always, Inadi" He said in response to the relieving compliment. "Err, or uh, I guess quick on your fins." He forced a smile at an attempt to relieve the tension. "I appreciate you and your radical nose,"

YOU IDIOTS.

Madeline began to chew them out, and wrongly so. At least to Toby. They were tourists after all, they're not the ones that stole everybody's emotions. It wasn't until she started hollering at Niran that he gritted his teeth. A sharp pain ran through the boys chest. How could this lady spew such venom at someone like Niran? Riley began hollering back, and Toby was on the verge of participating in the anger-fest when the sound of a radio crackling to life practically appeared from thin air. Everybody suddenly came to a silent halt as Madeline spoke into her radio.

It was impossible not to hear their conversation.

I lost my cool, sorry. I'm just sick of seeing people get turned into one of them. Anyways, are any of you hurt?

And just like that, Toby could instantly relate with how she felt. Usually he would hold a minuscule grudge against anybody that said anything mean to his family, especially if it was Niran that was getting yelled at. Still, they were dealing with a horde of emotionless in a city they knew nothing about. Not to mention the fact that Madeline and her crew didn't have to save them, considering how heated she had gotten upon their instant arrival.

At that moment Toby realized that they were officially out of danger, and he should make sure to appreciate their temporary shelter. The boy did so by briefly gazing at his three friends, taking in their good health. He was suddenly grateful of Madeline's assistance. The kid was reeling from the encounter and still shoving images of his emotionless friends out of his brain, but he was able to keep it together on the outside now that they were safe.

The memory of Lt. Falkners soldier being crushed by a tree at the hands of the turtle dragon replayed in Toby's head for what felt like the hundredth time. Nowhere was becoming scarier everyday ever since their vacation came to an end. The feeling of reminiscing upon better times was all too familiar for the boy.

Oh, also! We got separated from a group of our friends while we were on the whale bus into the city. Any idea where that might have dropped them off?

"There was a bunch of them! They're wearing cloaks, just like ours," Toby piped up as he swam besides Inadi, his index finger landing on the painted sunflower sitting happily on his cloak.
"I know you kinda just saved us from a bunch of scary monsters while we were messing around in a carnival, which I really appreciate by the way. Like a ton. And you probably didn't even have to and junk, but I promise we're a lot stronger than we look, especially nose of death right here,"

He gestured to Inadi before throwing an arm over his neck as he spoke with an upbeat attitude.
"being reunited with our friends back on the whale bus will make us even stronger y'know. The thought of my friends turning into one of...whatever those things is, well, I don't know," The boy's tone had suddenly become grim, and he pulled his arm off of Inadi.
"I don't want to see it happen. If you let us help, you won't regret it."

The image of Victoria smashing through the hooded figures door and describing her husbands fate raced through Toby's head at full speed.

"I promise!" He shouted, the upbeat tone returning in his voice.

 

[four]

The mayor? Huh.

The last time their issues involved a fish mayor things didn't exactly end up pretty.

"Mayor. … Is the mayor still around here?"

Leila adjusted her mental image of the entire Orion situation in accordance with newly acquired information, only to find the entire picture eerily incoherent. Emotion stealing fish, traps, guerilla teams of merfolk working for a mayor.

What exactly went down in this town?

Then the radio cracked on with news.

"Looks like they've found it."

North side. Carnival. Noisy group of foreigners. Fish swarming. Leila knew not to assert too much from anything, but she knew also that any estimations she made at this point were bound to be inaccurate as she found herself fabricating to the insufficient information possible scenarios in which minimal amounts of impending threat would be placed on her companions searching another part of the city - who had an overwhelming chance of being these dumb noisy folks spoken of.

"So, uh, you kids wanna go on an evil fish hunt with good ol' Olson?"

Yet, as it had been said, they didn't have much choice.

Without speaking a word, Leila followed the rest of the group as they made their way towards the North.

* * * * *​

Never had she found her persistent soft blue glow so bothersome. The bioluminescence fluctuated as the corners of the jellyfish gown pumped pulses of water, propelling her forward in short, gentle bursts. That, however, still seemed much cumbersome in comparison with the elegant curves traversed by the elegant streamlined bodies of the fish. Being reminded to try to make as little disturbance as possible, Leila struggled between keeping low such that she wouldn't be seen, and keeping away from the ground so that the small turbulence wouldn't kick up too much of the layer of sediments.

"Less chance of getting cornered in case the emotionless decides to come after us. We'll go through the back gate, then cut across the park."

She nodded tensely at every explanation or command given, and when she wasn't carefully maneuvering the city landscape she would divert her attention to surveying the distant shadows for any potential threat; yet picking up only a multitude of false alarms produced by the occasional current or the activity of other harmless creatures.

Trying to find something while desperately hoping she wouldn't was a really weird feeling.

Turning her focus again away from her almost paranoid detection of motion, she pushed forward faster for a short distance to keep herself caught up with the group; the faint light she emitted reflecting a blue hue off the skin of the fish that swam close to her.

She also found herself pondering over something else.

Moving closer to Ast, she spoke to the merman with turquoise hair in a whisper of a voice faint enough to ensure it only being possibly heard between the two of them:

"We uh,"

She found slightly concerning the possible unintended implications of admitting this, after it just being mentioned in the conversation how dangerous the situation in Orion was and how desperately they must have wanted this item to have ended up here. In the end, though, she decided according to the idea that asking politely couldn't conceivably do too much harm:

"We're looking for this thing called … the black pearl? Do any of you happen to -"

Clink.

She stopped in her tracks upon the clearly audible collision of metal against metal.

They were submerged now in a terrain , quite vast, yet abundant with chunks of tall formations of coral that took various shapes. The artificial structures built around them implying that those formations were probably placed there. Landscaping - they were halfway through a park, as Felicia mentioned. A park that was now part of a dead town.

Leila looked over her shoulder to see the outline of what appeared to be a mobile stand abandoned by its vendor - a rectangular frame with various items stacked upon its surface and contained in the see-through compartment beneath; a torn umbrella extruding from besides the handles, and wheels as well as two propellers attached to its belly - the stand was interestingly kept hovering in the middle of the water by the inflated rubber rim attached to its sides. By the looks of it it used to be a food stand, with the can of utensils being identified as the source of that clinking noise: one of Leila's longer tentacles must have accidentally brushed against it. Or caught onto it for a brief moment- there wasn't much way to tell, individual jellyfish arms were virtually invisible in the water, especially with the poor lighting.

Leila shot a nervous look at the others.

"Sorry." She said, before they carried on moving.

Then was when she felt the sharp tug against her body, inside the puffy dress of jelly.

The can of utensils, as well as the bowls, plates, cups, and glass jars containing all sorts of fluid, slid out of their resting position upon the now tilted mobile shelf and cascaded into a pile of cacophonic chaos onto the ocean floor; kicking up clouds of dirt at the end of their descent. An intuitive response to fled away from the source of sound led to another tug on the arm wrapped around one of the handles, sending the last few items crashing out of the cabinet.

 

[Fox of Hearts]

Everything passed by in a blur after they arrived safely. Ran's eyes were only getting accustomed to the dim, flickering lights inside the souvenir store when the fish woman went off on them. He clenched his jaw tightly as his eyes remained fixed on hers. An adrenaline charged and caffeine starved Ran was not the best person to push around, but the few hasty retorts that he wanted to hurl at her was quickly extinguished. He was aware that they were currently at her mercy. She could always chase them out if they proved to be a nuisance, hence he continued fighting back the urge to fight back until she insulted Riley.

"Look! I understand you taking it out on me, but she wasn't responsible. Okay."

While still soft spoken, there was no mistaking the anger lacing his words. He clenched his fists slight then relaxed. His fingers wandered over to his temples and rubbed them gingerly. Between his motion sickness earlier and his current caffeine withdrawal headache, he'd definitely better shut up for now. He wasn't totally ungrateful, but the fact that the kids stood up for him only made him feel a lot guiltier.

"I'm fine Riley. And thanks. You too, Inadi."

He remained standing wedged in his corner of the room as he listened halfheartedly to the on-going conversation. It wasn't that hard now that Toby and Inadi taking the lead after that short radio call from another sea dweller called Felicia. Seriously, he can't be prouder of Toby, even though that stunt back there was reckless and he needed to have a short heart-to-heart talk with the brave boy.

Dwelling on that last thought, he began brooding, despite acknowledging Madeline's apology earlier. These kids were much older than his nieces and nephews yet deep down he felt responsible for them, especially Toby whom he treated like his own nephew. However, those few dreadful seconds back there made him realize how powerless he was. Really, since he got off that train, all he had to offer was himself, a world-weary alcoholic without that many stars to his name and advice that doesn't cover situations involving empty-eyed emotionless beings or witches. Even keeping upbeat wasn't good enough. He feared his stupid would kill them in the near future.

The moaning outside grew louder as more emotionless began swarming outside. He inched away as the bookshelves began shuddering violently. Books tumbled from the shelves creating a huge cloud of dust around them. Through the cracks between the boarded windows, the hoomans could see webbed fingers and fins banging the windows. That didn't bode well. Another pang of regret stabbed his chest as Ran coughed violently. "How long till they leave? Are they always this… persistent?"

 

[Warden]

​

Good news was that they know where the black pearl, or at least something that sounded suspiciously like it, could be found. Bad news? Well. Cover's blown. Why did she get assigned to the mentally unstable group again?

"Kid, shut up!" Victoria hissed at Adrian. He was horribly squeamish and panicky, the sort of person that just made her want to drop everything and throttle him by the neck. She couldn't even lie to negate what C revealed about the Hooded Figures because Ace already confirmed it, so she just dropped the matter and pretended not to have heard the questions. Denial was always a good way to play off dilemmas. More importantly, thanks to all the noise Adrian made, zombie fish started pouring out of the nearby houses. Great, just great. "Right, you heard him. Don't kill the neighborhood fish. Wouldn't want to have a reunion and see ol' Billy without his head." Wait, actually, scratch that. Imagine convening for a village council and then seeing your friends without a body part. That was going to be exciting!

Gary swung her pole around and glared at the approaching 'emotionless', "What do we do? Bashing their skulls in is easier. Wait, do they eat people? Is that why she wanted me to be bait? Grrrrrrr." The pink-haired girl shook her fist at the younger redhead.

"Ugh. Ace, try and get that kid to tell you where the mayor's place is," Victoria called out to the girl who was now a few feet above the encroaching horde. She wasn't worried about a bunch of dead-looking fishfolk- they were, despite their disgusting appearances- merely civilians. It was very easy for someone of her caliber to break a civilian's arm if need be… Hee hee. However, Adrian left the house to look for his friends, so he probably wouldn't agree to helping them… not to mention Ace said they were going to downright steal the pearl if the mayor refused to give it to them.

"I don't have a thing against fishies, but can we move? They make me uncomfortable!" Gary squirmed when several of the emotionless neared her, and she instinctively drew her staff back and prodded them back. Hard. They'd probably have a circular bruise on their stomach later. Adrian seemed aghast, but then again he wasn't the one getting pawed at by weird corpse fishes, so he could keep his judgmental comments to himself.

"You're… making sense. Wow. Okay, let's just keep moving. We'll make up a plan on the way," Victoria swam up beside Ace and nodded at their captive. "I agree with you, Ace. It's going to be much faster if we just go to that mayor… Look, kid? Adrian? I bet your friends went to the city hall or something. Maybe you have a refugee center. Whatever. We're out like sitting ducks here, and we can't wait for that apathy fish to find us. Move." She tilted her head to the side and motioned for the others to follow her above the groaning and shuffling fishfolk, where they should be safe and out of reach so long as they moved fast and stopped screaming.

Pointed glare at Adrian for that last bit.

"We should go down again once we reach that area," the nobody gestured at a collapsed section of houses. Relatively few of the emotionless milled around that part, and the site itself was easy to hide in thanks to all the coral and the buildings. They could probably take a break there and plan their next move. All she knew was that she was vastly uncomfortable with staying out in the open like this.

​

Numair grinned, but he was feeling a little less confident about his cover story. If they start asking more about recipes or blueprints, he was going to break out into an annoyingly upbeat song featuring vegetables. Maybe also start a musical number. While he was contemplating of a good theatre presentation to bust into, Olson stopped with the questions and complimented his brand new dolphin tattoos.

"Thanks, bro. Yeah, you're ripped. Bet it took a lot of strength training to get into that shape, huh?" he bumped fists with the whale and grinned, again. Man, his mouth was starting to ache. Fortunately, they were interrupted by a radio broadcast from the other fishfolk in the area. Apparently somebody found Nemo in the north side while a 'Madeline' collided with a bunch of strangers… He glanced at Harper when he heard of the "bunch of idiots" bit. Knowing how eccentric some members of their group could be- ahem, Gary- he was willing to bet money that those morons were their friends, or at least some of them. Numair hoped that none of the teams went northside, but if they did, he could only pray that they didn't return like those brainwashed fish chums.

They joined forces with the three guerilla trapmasters and waded further into the city.

Okay, skipping around a shopping mall? Starting to feel more and more like he was a DLC character in the Left 4 Dead franchise. Maybe if he picked up a crowbar he'd feel more satisfied with their current situation. Wait, were they allowed to brain the zombie fishies?

Numair stayed on the rear of the group, where he occasionally stopped to wait for Leila to catch up, and he kept watch for jumpscares. He had good reaction time, if the results from that Wii game about The Grudge could be trusted.

"Sorry."

"It's no problem, just don't-," Numair moved over to untangle whatever it was Leila got stuck in the food cart- he honestly couldn't tell what went wrong since he was pretty much startled by the sudden noise- but then it just…

Toppled over was a good word, if not a bit over for this situation. It was like watching something go wrong very slowly. Thanks to the current, the cart tilted over very slowly- the contents less so- and then a loud crash reverberated within the area. Maybe even further, thanks to how silent it was.

Numair sighed. So much for a stellar reaction time. That game was a lie.

"Right." The dust clouds the items kicked up reached up to the surfer's waist, and he squinted to see just where it was that Leila got nabbed. Things like this often led to people dying in dystopian movies. As if to herald their oncoming doom, the subtle sounds of faraway shuffling and groaning reached the group and it was leading to all sorts of reactions from everyone. Numair was pretty much unable to react though; with the cart upside down, he decided to swim under it to inspect the corners. Maybe her jellyfish dress got caught on a crack? Whatever the case was, he was now in the midst of the swirling dirt and any reaction he could have had was well hidden by it. The inspection didn't proceed well and the surfer eventually went to grasping around blindly for… Well, something. Jellyfish are supposed to be squishy, right? Wait wait wait.

"Don't electrocute me," Numair popped out and glanced up at Leila before moving underneath the cart again. Maybe she was a nice jellyfish, the one that doesn't zap you. Or maybe, she's the zappy one. Worse, she could be the one that kills you with poison. Riiiight. Here he was being a happy little bugger about it too. Now playing Mr. I'll Help Everyone! suddenly seemed very painful.

The eerie zombie SFX was getting closer and closer. Numair started whistling- apparently such a feat could be managed underwater if one was magically transformed into merfolk- to cover up his fear of Leila's appendages should he touch one and to at least cheer up the gradually tensing atmosphere. Eventually, he managed to locate the arm that had entangled itself around the handles, and tried to poke it off with a spoon he leeched off the utensil basin. It didn't work.

Fine. Let's do it the hard way then.

His hand shot out and grasped the tendril, only to back out when a slightly painful tingle ran over the surface of his skin. Numair took in a deep breath… then laughed. Nervously. "That wasn't as bad as I expected!" he exalted, mostly to himself, then went back for a second try. Leila was soon freed from the mess just as the zombie fishes appeared on the edges of the park.

"So, hero escape and all that?" the surfer swam up to the others, wringing his hand absentmindedly as they convened for a plan. Thank goodness these things moved like slugs or else they'd be toast by now.

 

[Fox of Spades]

​

City of Orion - North Group

Maybe yelling hadn't been such a good idea. The usually empty streets were growing crowded and it turned out that the emotionless were still in the area, just hidden inside the broken houses instead of ambling along in plain sight. The merman clamped his hands over his mouth and tried not to yell in protest when Gary's pole came into contact with one of the many zombies. "I...I honestly don't think they're at city hall," he swam back and began waving his frying pan in the air. "No one ever goes there anymore, but I could show you the way."

Adrian had C's full attention. "You can help?"

"Yes, I can. But your friend is right, we can't talk out in the open like this—ack!" His frying pan collided with an emotionless fish's face and he bit down on his lip in guilt. "Let's go." And Adrian zipped below the zombie like fishes and towards broken buildings and corals that Victoria had pointed out.

The merman zipped inside an abandoned looking house and C began to swim after him. She grabbed Gary by the hand and started swimming low. The emotionless followed ambled after them, but as soon as they were out of arm's reach the fishes slowed down and they were pretty much in the clear.

"That was close..."

C's expression was once again blank, but her eyes were focused on Adrian. "Mayor."

"Oh yeah, so I could take you to city hall." Adrian's posture and actions screamed frightened child, but at this moment things changed and he looked sure of himself. "I can take you, if you help me find Travis and the rest of our friends. I know they aren't there, if anything, they'll be looking for me." The merman focused on Vicky, she seemed to be the leader of the criminal gang. "I know you just met me, but I can help you get the pearl...through legal means." This time he was looking at Ace.

To be honest, C didn't care about whether they got the items legally or not, but she didn't want to get arrested, so she listened.

"The mayor is going to award whoever catches the emotion stealing fish." Adrian shrugged, "it won't be easy, but you'll get anything you want as long as the city can afford it. I don't know why you want the pearl, but if you need it badly, we can find my friends and you can deal with the fish and we'll both be happy." Both his hands were clasped together and if he had knees, he would've been on them. "Please, I can't save them on my own."

C looked at Gary and shrugged. "Do we take him hostage?"

"Wait, what?" Remembering that they were crazy, he decided to focus on Ace and Vicky. "What do you say?"
​

♠ ♠ ♠​

​

​

City of Orion - West Group

"Hah, you're a curious bunch, aren't ya?" While Ast and Felicia decided to watch the group's backs, Olson had taken the lead. The burly whale gave his head a scratch and smiled at Sacha. "Uh-huh, the mayor's gonna award whoever catches it, and award aside, it's for the good of Orion!" He brought a fist to his chest and laughed, "as long as you don't look into its eyes, you'll be okay. That's why we're trying to snare it, so we can blindfold the thing and put an end to all this." He seemed pleased with his own answers and he only grinned brighter at Numair's comment.​

​

"Olson used to work for the army, so despite his thick skull, he knows his stuff." The whale man pouted and Felicia smacked him on the arm with a chuckle. "If things get messy, we'll keep whatever's coming busy. You guys just focus on finding a place to hide, alright? We'll be okay."

Unlike Olson and Felicia, Ast looked more nervous than sure of himself. He was pretty new to all this and was the youngest of the trio. "Yeah," he gave them all a smile, "we'll be okay and wha?" Did the jellyfish just ask him about the black pearl. "Huh, what do you guys want with the mayor's key?"

Felicia and Olson both turned to look at Leila at the same time.

Ast shrugged, "she mentioned the black pearl."

Olson was focused on Sacha now, "I thought you were looking for ingredients?" The whale was about to ask a couple more questions but a loud crash echoed throughout the ocean and the sound of groans filled the air soon after. "Cellery," Numair managed to free the tangled Leila just as the emotionless began to make their entrance. "Okay, the park is right up ahead, we're going to zip past it, okay?"

Harper nodded his head and coughed when Olson smacked him encouragingly on the back. "You guys go ahead! We'll make sure they don't follow us."

"Numair? Leila?" Harper looked at the two worriedly. "You're okay, right?" Olson started yelling at him to hurry up so he gave then a nod then began to swim. The trio waited for the others to hurry and as soon as the humans had left, they began to follow. The emotionless lost interest after sometime and soon they were swimming past corals and buildings that looked like they hadn't been used in years.

The radio crackled to life and once again, it was Phillip.

"The emotion stealing fish was last seen near the corals up north. It was seen chasing two mermen and a mermaid. Requesting a status update from all groups."

"This is Felicia. We have just reached the northern part of Orion. We have four civilians with us, none seem to be from the area. All is quiet."

"Proceed with caution. I'll be there ASAP. Currently at the prison, captured two vandals in green cloaks, over and out."

Harper's eyes went wide and he swam beside Numair and tried not to look suspicious. "Did you hear that?" He whispered. Green cloaks. There was no doubt about it, whoever have been thrown into jail was one of them.

Olson clapped Sacha on the back. "So, what exactly do a bunch of cooks want with the mayor's key, huh?"

"Olson," it was Ast and he sounded rather worried. "It looks like they're gathering around that building." The merman pointed towards a ruined building that was surrounded by corals. It looked completely abandoned, but for some reason a couple of the emotionless kept swimming around it.

"Someone's in there..." Felicia stated, and just as she had, a girl poked her head out the door.
​

♠ ♠ ♠

​

City of Orion - South

"—Currently at the prison, captured two vandals in green cloaks, over and out."

"Friends in cloaks?" Madeline eyed them almost sympathetically. "That must be them, they're in jail." The radio crackled to life once more and this time she heard Felicia speaking. There was a request to get to the north side as soon as possible.

"Madeline, here." She let out a long sigh, "I've also found a couple of civilians in green cloaks, we're having a rough time at the moment, but we'll be heading up north as soon as the emotionless settle down. Over and Out."

Madeline focused on the humans. "Not from here? Well you've picked a hell of a time to visit Orion. You should think about suing whatever company sent you tourists to this Celeryforsaken place. No, they're rarely this aggressive. Most of the time they're pretty easy to evade, annoying, but not hard to escape. The sudden lights and sounds must have triggered this." She felt like yelling at them again, but stopped herself. "We know that two of your friends are in jail, the rest must be up north with Felicia. She mentioned finding a bunch of civilians."

"North?" Riley was beside Ran and while she was no longer yelling, both her eyebrows were furrowed in irritation.

"Are you deaf?" Madeline smirked. "North. It's not a good place to be. The fish was last spotted there."

Riley's ears were red but she bit her tongue and left the talking to Inadi and Toby. She didn't want to piss of their only bet at finding the others.

"So..." the banging sounds were growing louder. "We have two choices, we can sit here and wait for the emotionless to lose interest," Madeline pointed to a bag of golf clubs in the corner of the room. "Or we can grab a club and charge out of this room like the badasses we are. To be honest, I want to get up north as soon as possible. The sooner we rid this town of that fish, the better. And it'll be safer for your friends and my friends, but I don't exactly believe in your capabilities."

That was it, Riley grabbed a club and stood her ground. "Listen, we might not look like much, but we've been through a lot. Take it from Toby, we're stronger than we look. You don't have to save us a second time, we'll look out for each other."

Madeline laughed. "Big words, let's see what you guys are made of then, eh?" She gestured to the golf clubs and grinned. "What's it going to be, guppies?"​

 

[Capt. Blu]

There was a lot more swimming away from the zombies. Ace still thought fighting them was a better and cooler action, but she decided to follow directions, and follow the group out of the line of sight of the zombies. They were simply civilians, she couldn't attack them...so he said. "Wonder how everyone else is faring. I'm sure they're fine, but they could already be at the mayor's house. Or could've found something cool." When they were in the clear, Ace floated around the group calmly, waiting for answers. "Yeah, if you could tell us, we'll be on our way." However, when he started to speak, Ace crossed her arms, ending up upside down in front of him. "We don't have time for your negotiations. We have things to do. Just lead us in the right direction and we can get out of your hair."

"I know you just met me, but I can help you get the pearl...through legal means."

"Hmph...that's no fun." She sighed but looked at the others, wondering what everyone else thought. Well, mainly Victoria. Those other two were pretty questionable.

"The mayor is going to award whoever catches the emotion stealing fish."

This peaked Ace's interest. "Anything you say? Hm...maybe this could be of interest..." Looking at Victoria, she she grinned. "We should do it. You know, then I can just ask for the city. Hehe. I mean, even if stealing it would be a lot easier, getting anything we want sounds pretty fun." That was always a once in a lifetime opportunity for her, especially since she didn't have much to begin with. It was a chance that she wasn't going to pass up. There was the possibility that he was lying too. He did say, 'they could deal with the fish'. "Hey, are you trying to use us or something? We become a distraction for zombie fish master and you and your buddies get a chance to escape?" Her eyes narrowed accusingly and she scooted closer and poked his chest.

After a few moments, she laughed and shook her head. "Nah, you don't look like you could do something like that. Too soft. Anyway, eh, why not? We always run into trouble, might as well keep up the trend." She chuckled and looked over at Victoria. "Unless you disagree and think we should force him to talk. I mean, I'm all for that option too."

While they spoke, Ace noticed a few zombies swimming around the building they were inhabiting. "May want to hurry up. Not in much of a hurry, but these emotionless people are starting to swarm again." She closed the door that C was looking out of and pointed up to the hole in the ceiling.

"Shall we?"