The Midnight Train to Nowhere

[four]

It didn't take long for Leila to realize that she might have just done something terribly, terribly wrong.

She made an attempt to push herself out of the way, despite already accepting the fact that the approaching fish would have more than sufficient time crushing her on the ocean floor before she could go anywhere out of the way. So she brought her arms up, closed her eyes, and waited for the impact.

It happened much earlier than she expected too. And from a different direction.

Much lighter, too.

Leila opened her eyes to find herself tacked to the ground, but not impaled and with no bones broken. Breaking her sight away from the jaws of the fish that snapped shut only on the seabed sand barely a metre away, she saw someone else recovering from a fall besides her.

"...C?"

Pushing herself upright, Leila extended a hand to help C up; but the hand was not taken as C flipped back up rather quickly by herself, and - as Leila saw through the cloud of fine particles kicked up from the seabed - had a stone collected. A sharp stone.

squish.

She watched as the Hooded Figure thrusted the sharp end of the stone into the angler's socket.

"C!"

Leila yelled, but not as a response to what seemed like a moment of triumph. Leila saw her cling tightly to the protruding edges of the angler's thick scales, putting all of her weight into the hand that drove the stone into the eye, and into suppressing the violent thrashing from the fish in its blind charge forward.
She was yelling at C because she knew she herself made the same mistake before.

"C get away fr-"

The disturbed mass of sand in the air that obscured her sight only made the sight more unbearable, as Leila watched the angler pull back, with blood on its spines, and red seeped through the uncleared waters. She watched in fear as the fish stop in its tracks, too aware of the fact that there was nothing she could do if it decided to ram a second time.
The fish changed directions and moved away.

Still there was no way for Leila to tell how bad it was. Pushing her way through the settling dust, she noticed Toby, who was screaming as he raced into the scene.

"Toby, is C alright? ..Toby - ?"

Yet Toby, after saying some indistinct things to C, himself turned away and left.

It was only until the light from the angler fish receded into the distant depths of the ocean that Leila noticed how dark it had become. Most of the city didn't have its lights on, and now her own soft glow was the only thing that illuminated the empty streets around her - in a sickening hue that was a mixture of fluorescent blue and the ribbons of red that were C's blood.

Leila kneeled - or what would be the equivalent of kneeling with her current body, while keeping the tentacles carefully out of way - besides the fallen figure. C was still struggling to keep her eyes open, while one of her hands clutched tightly an edge of the cloak and pressed it close against the unseen wound. Her face was pale, and the hand was shivering.

Leila found her own hands shivering as well as she placed one of them over the wound C was pressing on, which invoked a painful grunt in reply. Stop the bleeding...that's how they did it, right?

Now was not the time to worry over not knowing what to do. Shoving back down her frustration over the uncertainty, she bent over and - as gently as possible - raised C off the ocean floor, wrapping her arms around the body of the injured figure.

She needed help.

Being buoyantly balanced meant that it wouldn't be as tiring carrying someone. Though, this trip was still going to take a while.

Leila started to push herself forwards in the direction of the distant, flickering lights that were the school.

 

[Cephalogod]

Sacha really did want to trust Gary, he really did. But when her way of entering a building full of panicked children was banging on a window until she smashed it... well. Though in her defense, this was the fastest way to get in and unlock the doors.

It wasn't hard to find the civilians after getting into the building- they could hear muffled weeps of some children coming from nearby classrooms, and the small shrieks that ensued when they opened the door confirmed that yes, this was where everybody had gathered.

It looked to be a library of sorts, just large enough to fit all the people huddled around inside. They looked terrified, and Sacha only noticed after a short moment that it it was the two of them that they were currently focused on.

A very tall octopus-merman and a tiny girl with a giant pole- he supposed he could see why they'd be wary. He wasn't quite sure if Gary's following pep talk helped matters or not.

He didn't quite have time to confirm the teacher's sudden realization before one of the zombie fish crashed into the room. Screams rang out and Sacha grabbed the closest thing to him- in this case a chair- hurling it at the fish and sending it flying back out. It was too late to quell the panic that had overflowed with the breaking in of the emotionless, and he had no doubt that the giant fish and the other zombies would have taken note of the evacuation team and the citizens by now.

As Harper and Jasper joined them, more and more emotionless started to break in, drawn by the amount of frantic emotions.

The teachers went to work and Sacchin joined in, halping to direct the flow of fishpeople out of the doors and towards the exit that they would use to escape the building. The ones at the back of the group were working hard to barricade and block the hallway as they moved, slowing down their pursuiters for as long as they could.

"Hey Harp, Sacchin, do you two even know where we're supposed to hide these people in? I'm so smart, I thought of that loophole. Anyway I hope you have a plan, because I'm going back to help Jaspies,"

"What? Gary, wait-"

He was torn between letting his friend go back, but he needed to be there to direct and calm the children as they squeezed through the halls. A few sobbing children had even attached themselves to his tentacles firmly- luckily he had enough to spare. While Jasper and Gary and some others continued to strengthen the barricade, he and Harper would have to move quickly to get everybody out of the building before they were trapped.

"C'mon, there's no need to cry." He gingerly patted a small angel-fish child on the back before turning to Harper who was swimming besides him. "After we get them out of the building, get them to swim as fast as possible away from the fish. Hopefully the other teams are keeping the big one busy. We'll have to slow the zombies down while they swim for it, though." The exit came into view and Sacha started to unpeel the children from his legs, succeeding with a little help.

"Get the children to swim as fast as possible. Away." The few teachers who heard him nodded as they slammed open the door, children and civilians spilling out from the building and booking it.

He and Harper floated to the side to let them pass. The giant thing seemed to still be sufficiently distracted, but already he could see emotionless starting to advance towards the thinning crowd still straggling out of the school. There was a large hefty stick that looked to have been a part of some sort of fence on the ground and he picked it up, face grim and ready to give the fishies a light smacking if they got too close.

Scanning his surrounding to take in exactly how many emotionless were coming this way and how long it would take them to get here, his eyes settled on a figure in the distance. It took a bit of squinting, but the puffy and translucent jellyfish dress made it obvious that it was Leila.

"Is that..." He tried to point out the figure to Harper. "Why is she coming this way?"

 

[Fox of Hearts]

Numair has a good voice. Strong and clear. Ran didn't mind one bit if the tanned boy lack a deeper husky timbre – what Nums had was good enough. He danced about fist-pumping the air before doing a double armed wave. The lights on his body flicker here and there all over his body like some underwater stage light. The karaoke bros were rocking on when something silvery shot pass. Ran whistled dumbly. His lights flashed several times like some mad paparazzi camera. "I-Inadi! What are you doing?!?!"

Lelia let out a death wail shortly after. Her scream attracted the soul stealing fish, which switched course abruptly, and target the usually silent belle. Numair yelled as C pushed Lelia out of the way. Tempered chocolate Easter eggs laid by Song! Geez, what happened to formation – to plan – to things? They had a cheesy burrito bean dipping kill squad. Lady Boss' so kicking their sorry tails after this.

"C – stop! Just drop that rock and back –"

A horrid screech overwhelmed them as a trail of ruby red stained the water. Chopping celery! C get out now. Too late! His ugly cousin dug its spine into poor Cake. Vivid crimson spurted from her and melded with the darker maroon wisps from the angler. "Mushroom pizza! Cheese crumble … cake. Numair, we've got to get our tails there!"

"I'll drag your intestines out from your gills for that."

Ran fell silent. This was like one of the cheesy "I will avenge you" scenes in your standard shonen manga. He knocked his forehead in exasperation. One day – just one day – this was going to turn all of them into fish chow. There was a time for emotions and a time for survival. Initially, he tried to pull his hand back when Nums grabbed it, but Niran realized the boy wanted to lead the fish away while saving their tails.

"Oi! Here fishy fishy! Here fishy fishy," he yelled as they swam towards the school. "Come after us if you want THIS!"

Focusing on the most passionate and inspired thought he could muster, Ran's body glowed a lovely warm rose. Feelings of love, passion, longing and even gritty determination swirled in his mind, as he envisioned himself slaving over his yet to be finished portrait. His masterpiece. Something he had planned to submit for the competition in March.

Ran's heart thumped. They were almost there. Hopefully, they can get this ugly fish to wedge his head firmly between the school gates. Killing the brute should be simple once it was trapped. Then maybe Rils would be back to her old chirpy self. Hopefully, of course. What if they accidentally destroyed all the ingested emotions along with – STOP! The plan had to work. Rils was not going to be zombie for the rest of her sane life.

"Speed up, Nums!" The dolphin's hand tightened slightly. With a huge burst of speed, they managed to create a rift between them and Moby Dick. He nodded appreciatively. It was mildly alarming to have his tail so close to that freaky lips and slit-like nostrils. Seeing the gates in the distance brought his wandering mind back underwater. "I – Celery! Nums! We can't pass through the shut gates. We aren't dead yet."

Thankfully, the surfer boy still had his senses intact. Numair skidded to a stop as they almost crashed into kill squad. Vicky had dived to avoid them, but instead of stopping, the lion fish charged forward. Her eyes fixed on her prey. Ran swung round as she slipped under the fish, barely missing its fangs.

"Lady Boss – I mean Vicky – hey! Don't get yourself killed." He yelled to her even though she was completely out of sight. "Vick…"

The fish threshed before swerving drunkenly. It tilted to the side, righted itself then leaned over the opposite side. This bizarre pattern carried for a good two or three feet then the fish spiraled to the right until its underbelly was exposed. Revealing the culprit – Vicky.

"Is it over?" Ran asked tentatively as he swam a little closer towards the crash site. That was waaaay too easy compared to the pain and anguish and YIKES. The huge eyes pupil-less eyes stared straight at him. The artist gulped and began swimming backwards. "Errr just how much health does this beast have?"

 

[MixedUpGuy]

Thankfully Toby was able to step in just at the right time. Inadi desperately wanted to thank the blonde hero as he picked himself off the ground and began telling everyone to throw stones at the creature, but Inadi decided against that and actually go about Toby's idea. At least he would have if C didn't surprise the whole lot of them with her attack towards the dreaded beast.

Watching the girl be thrown about and then some while the water turned red made Inadi cringe in fear as he tripped over his fins, if that was even possible, and landed on the ground again as he saw the turmoil going on in front of him. She had a tight grip on the thing's eye but needless to say that fish got the best of the battle. C laid in the sand with slashes and stabs all through her body and the fish just swam away towards Numair and Ran as if nothing had happened to it. But seeing the inconsistent pattern it was going in made him realize that the eye may have been more damaged than he initially thought in the end, which was a step in the right direction at the very least.

Shaking himself out of his haze he heard Toby screaming out that the fish was going towards the others. Looking over he saw the boy hovering over C and trying to desperately find some way of fixing her up. They could really use Jasper's magic from Sol right about now, but remembering his arm he realized that there was no guarantee that even that would have helped them out at this point. All they could hope for was that she didn't just bleed out into the ocean before help could arrive. And that Inadi himself could get to the others in time before the big nasty thing got there.

Chasing after Numair and Ran, he found himself having a really difficult time keeping up in speed. His side was beginning to scream in pain as he began gripping his ribs and in one certain spot he noticed it was a little more sore then the rest. Kicking as hard as he could to try and catch the two as they headed towards the kill team Inadi's eyes went wide as he poked at a certain part of his ribs that should not have the consistency that it did. It was a crack. No doubt about that. The rib still felt like it was solidly in place but there was a line towards the middle of the rib itself. Shaking his head in frustration he realized his usefulness just dropped by a lot. One good smack to that rib and it would be broken, and considering the force that that thing had thrown the first one with, there was a chance that it could puncture an organ by sending it shooting out of the set position it was in.

Ripping his mind from those thoughts he continued to follow and saw as Victoria slammed the beast down with her tail. The thing made a big thud as it hit the ground and laid motionless there for a bit and that allowed Inadi to catch up to Ran at least. Squinting through the pain at his side he looked over at the older fish and then at the angler before them. Seeing that eye shoot over at Ran only made Inadi shake his head. "Usually bosses like this have multiple stages. But at the very least we have a weak spot to work with now after C did what she could to the thing's eye," Inadi explained as he got a really stupid idea all of a sudden. "What say we finish the work she started?"

Before Ran could answer and Vicky could protest the swordfish began dashing as fast as he could towards the big monster as it pushed itself off the ground and let out a very agitated roar. Clearly the patience on this thing was wearing thin. Something Inadi could at least relate to. Keeping his eyes open as long as he could he tried to dive him nose first into the already damaged eye. A sudden jolt from the beast however left him sailing to the ground and into a tumble. Keeping his eyes open allowed him to tuck his head in at the last moment and save himself any real further damage, but the landing left his side pulsing in pain. Looking for where the fish went he was a little surprised to find it had disappeared from at least his vision.

Looking back up to Ran he shrugged. "Hey, did the thing go under the sand or something? I can't see i..." Inadi immediately let out a yelp of pain as rough and course scales ripped into his back and he felt at least three good gashes open up on him. Turning around he saw that the fish had the mouth open and had already begun turning for another blow. His centering vision was off. Lucky for Inadi, cause if it wasn't he would have been a toothpick at this point. Trying to push his fin beneath him to get him out of the area he found the searing pain of his side and back now completely immobilizing him at this point. The fish seemed to be lining up a better shot and began bearing down on Inadi again. Trying to time it, Inadi pushed off the sand and thankfully dodged the next charge. It was clear this thing was not interested in his emotions anymore. It just wanted him out of the picture.

 

[Fox of Spades]

Attack Team: Outside the School

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to favor one of you over the others, if it helps, I don't like any of you in that way." Ace had saved him from the bottom of the dogpile, and while he felt a little guilty for making all the other fishes jealous, he was unharmed. "Thanks for the save, Ace, you're good at this!" Had the circumstances been different, he would have pulled the redhead into a cheerful hug, but the fishes were jealous enough already and he didn't want them to come charging towards him for a bunch of kisses.

Luke heard Phillip and Madeline yelling at them to focus on the fish. Most of the emotionless were crowding around the two noisy soldiers now, though a handful had also started to attack the school. So much was happening at once and the fish, Luke didn't notice until he saw Ran and Numair swimming towards them at immense speed. Inadi and Toby were also following behind them, but Leila and C weren't there. The confused look was wiped off the boy's face and soon he was scrambling for a piece of plywood just like Ace was, there wasn't time to try and remember the good times, anyway, there wasn't much to remember, and he had stopped trying ages ago.

"We have to keep that thing from approaching the school, got it?

"Yes, ma'am!" That was all he managed to say before the fish came barreling towards them. "Ace, let's rip that glowy thing off its head!" While Vicky dove underneath the fish, he and ace shot upward and they would have gone for the wobbly angler's light bulb if not for Inadi's sudden presence. Vicky jammed her tail into the angler's belly and Inadi started charging towards it without any backup.

"Oi, you're supposed to use the buddy system!" Luke was visibly upset now and before he could do anything about it, Inadi was tossed to the ground and mauled. The water around him turned pink and a flash of of fear flashed across Luke's usually smiley face.

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!"

Blood. Screams. Death. They had done this all before and the sudden rush of memories left Luke floating in a daze. Before they ran into Sacha or Gary, there had been others, they were just like the lost souls, except they were dead and gone and nothing but memories now.

The angler turned towards them, missing eye and all. It swam shakily towards them and Luke swam above it armed with a piece of plywood. "C'mon, Ace!" The angler was still recovering and with its one good eye it scanned its surrounding for the boy and the redhead. There was a crack as Luke brought the plank down on the angler's head. The wooden board snapped in half and the fish, who had had enough of all this foolishness let out a guttural snarl, it shot past both the attack team and the bait team and prepared to ram the school.

♠ ♠ ♠​

Evacuation Team: Inside the School

"She's right!" Jeffey's eyebrows were furrowed together in concern. "They'll break in really soon, so you have to leave too miss!"

"Jeffey, go with the nice Octopus man and clown fish!" Mr. Dempsey, a lobster in glasses grunted. He was pushing the pyramid of chairs and shelves with all his might, but he knew it was true, the best they could do was stall for time.

"Lady," Jeffey was trying to speak in his most grownup voice. If the pink-haired girl could give cool speeches and make things happen, then maybe he could too. "There are a lot of them and if you stay behind, you will get caught, listen to her!" He threw his hands out in Gary's direction and beamed. "She's smart—ah!" Jeffey was pulled along by a frantic Ms. Aberdeen. Several children were clinging to her and a little ways down the hall even more were holding onto Sacha's tentacles for reassurance. The tall, quiet boy was proving to be a good source of comfort for the kids.

"Don't...don't do anything heroic." Harper shot both Gary and Jasper a concerned glance. "Get out as soon as you can, we'll try to get everyone as far away as possible, promise." Amidst all the panicking, he hadn't really thought about their destination, it was a good thing Gary brought it up. He felt conflicted, the idea of leaving two of their teammates behind didn't sit well with him, but they had to do it and he followed after Sacha as a small group of children flocked around him. One of them was riding his back and two others held onto his free hand (the one that wasn't holding the mop). "Sacha is right, this'll all be over soon. Shhh, we'll be okay, just think of happy thoughts."

They reached the exit and teachers and children began pouring through the doors.

"Just keep swimming, they'll be too busy to notice." He whispered. "Get out of Orion if you can or just stay some place safe, smaller groups are harder to notice." He stammered out every piece of advice he could remember and watched as the civilians disappeared into the blue.

"Why is she coming this way?"

He was too focused on the teachers and kids to notice, but now he did. It looked like a soft glow at first, but then it hit him. "It is...it's Leila." And then the entire school shook and he saw the angler ramming its disfigured form into the building.

No, get back. Stay away!

Those were the things he wanted to yell at her, but as Leila floated closer, he noticed C, barely conscious in Leila's arms. "It's Leila and C," he repeated, his voice a mixture of confusion and worry. Harper swam towards them silently, the mop clutched tightly in his hands.

He could hear the attack team and the bait team and somewhere above them Phillip was banging the lids of garbage bins together while Madeline unleashed a flurry of curses. He heard the angler fish crash into the school one more time before he saw the black blur swim away.

"That's right you son of banana!" Madeline. "Come and pick on someone your own size!"

"That was too close! Vicky what do we do?!" This time it was Luke.

Harper could hear all the yelling but he was focused on Leila and C and all the blood. He wasn't sure if C was bleeding to death, or if it was an effect caused by the water. He swallowed hard and gave Sacha a helpless look as he tried not to panic, "we can't bring them inside, can we?"

"Only one eye now," C's head lolled to the side, her eyes were screwed shut and her mouth pulled back into a grimace. "I'm tired."

"Yeah," Harper tried to sound comforting, "just...just rest a little, everything will be alright really soon."

He wanted to pull everyone into a comforting and warm hug but the anger was still out there and Jasper and Gary were in the building and they could all die—he tried not to think of it. "Sacha, can you stay with C and Leila? I'm going back in for Jasper and Gary." He didn't wait for a reply, just shot them all a worried glance before he started swam through the school doors.

♠ ♠ ♠ ​

"Tomas," Jeffey's couldn't believe it. They had all been swimming away together, but then one of the emotionless leaped out of nowhere and scared them. They managed to evade it, but not Tomas. No one saw, but Jeffey did. Tomas was getting cornered by two of the emotionless and there was no way he was going to let anything happen to a first grader! He was a third grader and as one of the older kids, it was his job to keep Tomas safe!

He thought about Gary's speech and threw the first stone.

 

[Kimchi]

Their school furniture soon beginning to prove itself ineffective, she watched as Gary came running back towards them, whacking and batting emotionless right and left as the pre-citizens found their way into the hall by climbing in through the windows. Gary was right, they had to get out of there. Signaling the teachers to go on ahead of her, she motioned for Gary to stand by her in front of the blockade. "Alright, on the count of three, we're going to tip this thing," She instructed whilst placing both hands on the wall of desks and chairs. Taking a deep breath, she made eye contact with Gary and gave a determined nod. "One... two... THREE! And push!" With a forceful shove and a tense grunt, their combined efforts sent the blockade toppling over the opposite way which prompted the zombies on the other side to drop back in their advancing.

"Let's book it!" Racing down the corridor while ignoring any emotionless attempting to claw at her, she hoped her efforts were put to good use and the civilians were a safer distance away by now. Surprisingly enough, Harper flew through the doors just as they were about to zoom out and she grabbed him by the wrist. "What are you doing?! Let's go!" Catching sight of Sacha with the children and teachers heading away from the school some range from the exit, the trio caught up with them in a few minutes of sprinting. Though the kids looked riled up and somewhat scared, they had calmed down from their previous state back in the building so the group wasn't attracting as much attention and it would take some time before the horde caught up to them.

Seeing Leila and C with them, she was immediately concerned about C who looked to be bleeding out, the water around them smelled metallic and she avoided filtering it into her gills. "What happened with you guys? Is everyone safe?" She questioned slightly frantic as she touched C, surveying every inch of the girl just to make sure her injury wasn't too severe. Once she established the fact that C would be alright for now, the group scattered to head out of Orion. Looking back towards the school, the angler rammed itself through the walls of the building, sending one side of the structure crumbling until the monster's attention was redirected towards the noises of Phillip and Madeline.

Meanwhile, the teachers were each taking a head count of their students just to make sure no one was left behind as they continued to head farther and farther away from the school and Orion all together.

Ms. Aberdeen counted and recounted about several times, her eyes getting teary as she turned towards the other teachers. "I can't believe it..." Her gaze looked utterly devastated and dumbfounded, "I'm missing two kids... Jeffey and Tomas!"

Hearing a screeching a little ways from the school, Jasper squinted and her pupils zeroed in on two adolescents little ways from the building who were getting mauled by a pair emotionless. "Oh my god!" Swimming as fast as her tail could carry her she parted from the other humans, her entire focus was on getting those kids out of there. Shoving the emotionless aside, she grabbed a piece of dead coral and thwacked one across the back while she had kept herself between the emotionless and the children.

"Tomas come on!" Jeffey encouraged as he took the younger boy by the hand, but his spurring was only met with a high pitched yelp. Tomas's fin was hitched into the spines and needles of a fossilized anemone. The emotionless had driven him into it earlier and now he couldn't get his tail to detached from it without causing a gash to rip through.

Jasper glanced back at the kids and by now Tomas was bawling his eyes out, but luckily the emotionless were dazed from her hitting and temporarily unable to smother them. Rushing to his side, she looked Tomas in the eyes and wiped the kid's tears whilst hushing him. "It's going to be alright. I'm going to get you out of here," She reassured him. Turning the Jeffey she says: "Go to Ms.Aberdeen now! Swim as fast you can and don't look back you understand! Don't worry about your friend. You'll see him in a bit, I promise!"

"You pinky swear?" Jeffey prodded with his finger held out.

"I triple pinky swear," Jasper replied hooking her own pinky with Jeffey's before she swished her hand at him to urge him to leave.

Unfortunately, while all that was taking place, the angler detected them as easy prey, the waling had perked its senses and it made a U-turn for the kids and Jasper.

"Does it hurt?" Her tug was light and Tomas howled as his fin tore a bit. "S-sorry," she wasn't exactly sure how to get him free without hurting him. Seeing a piece of sharp debris that had floated all the way from the school, she snatched it up and used it to cut the hard coral and little by little, Tomas's flipper was loosening and slipping out.

'Okay! Ms.Aberdeen I'm almost there!' Glancing quickly back to check to see if Jasper was following after him with Tomas, Jeffey turned around to see a horrible sight instead. The angler was closing in on the two and pooling all his bravery, anger, and might into his lungs, the youngster let out a gut wrenching war cry as he charged for the monster fish.

Hearing and sensing the intensity of Jeffey's emotions, the angler stopped short of thrusting for Jasper and Tomas and instead fixated its gaze at the stampeding Jeffey who was staring directly back at him. The yellow orb of his remaining eye began to gleam and glow as Jeffey advanced closer and closer.

Finally yanking Tomas out of his fastened position, the kid was unhurt for the most part, but the scene she turned around to was not one that allowed her relief from saving one child. Tomas's jaw dropped and he stood as still as a statue as Jasper made a mad dash for the attacking Jeffey. "NO JEFFEY! STOP! PLEASE!" She begged almost losing her wits about her as she prayed some miracle would stop him while she pumped her tail with all her might. But the kid was determined and there was no changing his mind. The angler's oculus irradiated a deadly golden intensity as Jeffey was only a few meters away from his glare...

Propelling herself and tackling Jeffey to the ground, the juvenile was sent sailing off to the side, but there she was hovering face to face in front of the angler, its maw wide open and her eyes centered into its shining yellow orbs. It was the most peculiar sensation; all of one's emotions melding into a single flowing stream like the monster was giving you one last time to feel something... anything before it sucked that ability from you. She felt it. She felt her consciousness, ability to think and control segregate itself from her physical form. Kind of heinous how the final mental state to seep out was an immense dysphoria before leaving you an empty shell. And like a flick of a switch, Jasper's light was burnt out.

 

[Capt. Blu]

Kill Squad: Open Sea near School

"It's the matter of learning Luke. The more you know." Hearing Madeline and Phillip made her turn. "I am focused!" She turned to see the fish hurling towards them and nodded at Vicky's request. "Can't let it to the school. Gotcha." As quickly as she said it, her and Luke darted upwards to dodge being attacked by the angler. "Alright Luke, let's-!" She paused when Inadi appeared out of nowhere. "Hey big nose what do you think you're-" In moments, the angler nearly killed Inadi. "You idiot!" She called out. Ace darted down with the raging Luke.

Smacking the fish only seemed to make it more upset and she was in the direct path of the fish and school. "Oh no you don't." Ace turned her hat backwards and held the wooden plank like a baseball bat. She reeled back and as the angler sped towards her, she swung the board as hard as she possibly could. Ace made direct contact with its face, causing it to reel back for a few moments and pause. "Home run baby!" She was about to go after the lightbulb, but paused seeing Inadi in a poor state of health. Help or stop the fish.... Thankfully, speed was on her side. Ace darted upwards as the angler shook off its daze and grabbed the light stalk. As fast as she was going, she yanked the stalk hard enough for it to be annoyed once more and try to get rid of them. "Luke, that thing is going to go after your buddies in there-" However it slipped from her grasp and swam towards the school. Well, the thing was pretty large, Ace only expected to slow it down not stop it completely.

"Gyah!" She tossed Luke her wooden plank and swam to the injured Inadi. Without warning or question, she pulled him up and put his arm over her shoulder. Ace didn't listen to any protests either. "Hey, you're not allowed to die! What will Jasper think if you go and do something so stupid. And if you make her cry, I will punch you. C'mon we still have that fish to catch and it's heading to the school." Inadi wasn't as light as Leila, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to speed after the fish, albeit she couldn't go as fast either. "Let's go, let's go, let's go." Ace mumbled, trying to swim faster than she already was.

What was that fish going after now? "Hey, Luke! Try to get Nemo's attention!" The closer they got, the more she saw a couple of figures in the distance. "Is that...Hey that's- Oh no..." The kids Jasper rescued were being cornered now, and Jasper...the closer she got, the more she realized things weren't okay. "Look sword nose. I know you're probably going to freak out...but do that after you get Jasper to safety- or, wherever. Just-, I have to go help Luke and Vicky. We'll fix her." Ace tried to prep and reassure Inadi then removed him like cargo, not wanting to stare at Jasper too long. She had been too slow... Ace could have made it. She knew she could have!

There was no time for that though. There were two small fish that needed help. "I got the cargo, you guys go for the fish!" As the angler swam towards the frightened children, Ace swam under it and scooped up both of them. "Yoink! Ha! Too slow!" Though, she wasn't fast enough to avoid having her tail narrowly ripped to shreds by teeth. Ignoring the pain that it caused, Ace held the younger one in a hug like a teddy bear, Tomas and had Jeffey hold on to her neck. "It's okay small fishies. We'll get you somewhere safe-!" It definitely didn't help that there were stray emotionless around. Ace thought about barreling through them, but she realized that her 'precious cargo' would probably get hurt. "Damn it, damn it, damn it! Don't repeat me, you could get in trouble for saying that." Ace whirled around for a way out.

"Up it is!" If she went back, she'd be putting the kids at risk. If she went forward, the emotionless would start following them. "I just wanted the stupid pearl!" Well, she might as well try and find the evacuation team and drop the kids off. If she tossed them into proper care, she could try and get back to the fight.

 

[Gossamer]

With a golf club in one hand and a bloody rock in the other, Toby darted back into the city and out of open waters leaving C and Leila behind. It was an impulsive decision, but he knew he would be of more use to those near the school where the fish had furiously swam off to.

That's right you son of a banana! Come and pick on someone your own size!

"Madeline!" The boy shouted upon arrival, watching as both Madeline and Philip worked to catch the anglers attention, "It's me! It's Toby!" Amongst a massive number of emotionless his yelling would certainly not go unnoticed. A handful of the zombies diverted their individual courses and focused their attention on the shouting blonde.

Even now he was still eager to prove his strength to Madeline, to show her that he was indeed a tiger shark. With the golf club in his grip he was ready to incapacitate the emotionless before him, which were now closing in on him. Toby raised the golf club, preparing to attack as the closest zombie lunged towards him.

I lost my cool, sorry. I'm just sick of seeing people get turned into one of them.

Those were the words Madeline had told the boy. People. These were people. Not zombies. They were just like Riley. Toby cursed as he swung the club, and diverted its course halfway to avoid hitting the person before him.

These aren't monsters, they're just sick, their happiness stolen.

Toby dropped C's rock and held the club awkwardly using both hands. It was the only thing between him and the emotionless who was eagerly gnawing at his face. By the time he pushed the first away two more had already thrown themselves at him. He could easily hear the sound of teeth clacking together as he held back the emotionless blindly chomping at his neck.

NO JEFFEY! STOP! PLEASE!

The boy turned his head in the direction of the scream to see Jasper, just a short distance away from the angler. He couldn't see the children near her, and cursed under his breath. As far as he knew she was supposed to be on the evacuation team, not outside.

"Jaspe-AGH!"

Pain shot through Toby's arm in an instant. He turned back to see an emotionless sinking her teeth into his forearm. His tail flailed wildly as he tried to swim away from the crowd that was beginning to overwhelm him. His hands were already full gripping the golf club to keep the initial mob at bay, thus he couldn't stop the woman from chewing away at his arm. He had to endure the pain.

Another emotionless wrapped her arms around Toby's neck from behind. He refused to stop fighting, relentlessly thrashing his body about at an attempt to free himself from their hold. "I don't want to hurt you! I don't want to hurt any of you!" He shouted angrily.

As the boy continued to flail about, he turned back in Jaspers direction just in time to see her, floating in place, gazing into the monsters eyes. A sharp pain completely different from that in his arm crept up in Toby's chest. His face twisting from anger into worry.

Not again.

Another emotionless, sensing the boys anxiety, lunged at his side. In unison the zombie on his back and on his side chomped down onto Toby's skin, one pair of teeth in his shoulder, another in his neck. He howled in agony, and watched as the anglers bright eye flashed that menacing yellow, sucking the life from Jaspers own eyes.

Any emotionless that were in earshot of Toby's cry turned their attention to the boy. Within the moments a direful amount were beginning to converge on the boy, who continued to howl, not for the pain in his limbs but for the pain of knowing that he had failed to protect those he held dear not once, but twice. Both times he could only watch rather than act. Both times he could have saved his friends if he were strong enough.

The thought of my friends turning into one of...whatever those things is, well, I don't know, I don't want to see it happen. If you let us help, you won't regret it. I promise!

Those were the words the boy had told Madeline. The promise he made. His actions weren't that of an esteemed tiger shark, but rather a pitiful guppy.

 

[Cephalogod]

"It's Leila and C,"

"I'm tired."

"Sacha, can you stay with C and Leila? I'm going back in for Jasper and Gary."

"Harper, be careful!" Sacha didn't have time to watch the boy dart back into the school, focusing his attention instead on C in front of him. Blood was seeping out from the wounds on her body, and Sacha gritted his teeth. They didn't have the supplies to bandage her up entirely right now. Were there any more first aid kits inside the school?

"Leila, put her down here," the floor was relatively clear of rubble. "I don't want to risk taking her inside then getting trapped. We need to find-"

"What happened with you guys? Is everyone safe?"

"Jasper?" He whirled around. "Harper went in to look for you and Gary- Did you see any first aid kits? We need something to stop the bleeding before she loses too much blood. Seeing no other option, he yanked off his shirt, folding it up and pressing it tightly against the gashes on his friend's torso. Luckily there was nothing embedded in the cut and it hadn't cut deep enough to warrant worry over anything having punctured her lungs. She wasn't coughing up blood either, he sighed with scant relief as he checked.

His relief was short lived as Jasper swam off in an attempt to rescue the children. His urgent cries for her to stop did nothing, but he couldn't just abandon C here. Unless-

"Leila, keep the shirt pressed tightly onto the wounds. See if you can't sit her up and lean her against somewhere and keep her awake. Once Harper and Gary come out I want you to ask them if there are first aids kits, and if there are get bandages to secure the shirt tightly. And see if there's anything to do to keep her warm!"

He propelled himself off of the ground with a push of his tentacles, shooting straight towards where the angler was. He was too late to stop the flash of its eyes as it sucked away Jasper's emotions, lunging himself towards its face to steer it away from the girl floating numbly in the water. He grasped its angler, whacking and gripping onto its face with his tentacles so that its eyes were obscured., blocking it from stealing any more people's emotions. It roared in anger, flailing and bucking in an attempt to shake him off but he gripped on tightly, limbs suctioned to its face and hands in a death hold onto its slippery stalk. His heart was racing in fear, but he didn't want anyone else to get hurt. If he lost more people here, he wasn't sure he would be able to keep hold of what was left of his sanity.

 

[four]

Leila was panting when she reached the school. Quite an incoherent notion, as she was in the ocean and - as far as she was aware - didn't actually breathe, at least in the most familiar sense. Yet she did feel her chest rising and falling rapidly as she desperately drew through her mouth and nostrils the tasteless deep ocean water, as she came to a stop just outside the school grounds.

She could hear the rustling of a crowd and occasional shrieks. And the sound of things moving through the water. Looking upwards, she would realize that the lights she saw and moved towards weren't all from the lights of the school.

She was unsure this was what to do.

"...I'm tired."

"Stay awake, C. Stay awake." was Leila's reply - she knew the struggle to keep her mind from slowing down all too well from her nights in the human world where she feared the darkness that would fall when she fell asleep, and those words were the best advice she could provide.

Laying the injured mermaid down against the base of a large coral whose branches extended into an umbrella of shade, Leila took the cloth from Sacha and did as he instructed. Pressing the cloth against the wound, Leila was met with a painful gurgle that led her to doubt if she was doing all of this correctly; and with her instinctive loosening of her press, she saw the threads of blood seep out through the soaked fabric and into the nearby water.

"Stop the bleeding. Keep awake. First aid kit. Keep warm." Leila responded quickly to Sacha's instructions. She actually found it hard to follow all that when her senses kept being diverted towards the commotion in the nearby school grounds.

"Understood." She said.

What she didn't quite understand, however, was how exactly to carry out those instructions. She frowned and looked back at C, whose eyes were dreamily narrowing.

"Sacha -"

Her question was broke off when she turned and found no-one there. She adjusted her hold on C and the makeshift bandage, allowing her to turn entirely around to see what was happening.

She saw a Sacha attached to the face of an angler fish writhing angrily in the waters above. But something concerned her even more: the direction in which the angler was pushing before Sacha interrupted - the direction from which a cry was emitted.

Leila looked at Sacha, then in Toby's direction, then back at C.

She bit her lip, indecisive. C...The tree-coral should provide enough shelter for a while. Hopefully.

Leila took C's hands and pressed them on the bandaged wound - reminding her to hold the pressure. She looked again at the mermaid's drowsy eyes.

"Stay awake." she said.

* * * *​

"Toby!"

Even swimming as fast as she possibly could, the trip to the broken wall where the emotionless were gathering took much too long. She found the boy struggling, surrounded by several aggressive emotionless, with a couple more seemingly catching onto the signal and closing in.

Leila heard him yell as one of them buried her teeth in the boys arm, with Toby desperately trying to pry the jaws away to no avail.

Gritting her teeth, she didn't bother deccelerating from her rush into the scene as she latched onto the shoulders of one of the fish who had a grip on Toby, pulling the emotionless aside as she slowed down at the expense of the emotion deprived citizen being shoved out of the way - and out of its balance with an extra push. Leila mentally apologized to Toby for the rashes the tips of the fins would have left on his skin as the emotionless tried to stay upright.

"-Toby!"

Oddly, he didn't seem to respond much - instead as he continued to let out his cries he seemed to have his eyes focused somewhere else, even with the emotionless clinging to his neck and limbs and with blood seeping into the water from the teethmarks on his arm - almost like he was letting them attack him.

"Toby are you alright?"

She was shouting. This was dangerous.

Leila's worry, apparently, was also picked up by the emotionless as two of them seemed to have eased their attack at Toby and threw glances at her.
Had to get Toby out of this.

Before she could make any attempt at doing so, however, she felt a pair of fins locking around her neck and pulling from behind. The emotionless that she just shoved aside was coming back in, and it seemed like it didn't have its eyes on Toby alone.

Leila grunted, grasping blindly as the two of them rotated and crashed into the mess that was Toby and the other several emotionless.

She didn't know where the thought came from. Or, at least, not at the moment when she put it into action. In retrospect it was quite obvious:

"How do those work? ...The stingers, I mean."

She watched as the emotionless loosened its grip and fell back, growling - from what must have been a searing pain from the rashes on the side of its face, where Leila just rubbed a bundle of tentacles.

Recovering from the collision, Leila grasped the loop of faintly fluorescent, stinger-laced organic string as she pulled herself back towards Toby, and what was upon him.

 

[Fox of Hearts]

"Inadi!? Stop!"

Yes, he was grateful the young man leaped to his aid, but they had other problems too. One – they can't afford to have more of the Lost Souls injured. Two – Vicky was stuck under the fish. She was their most experienced fighter, so they needed to support her as much as they can. Three – this was going to sound petty – but his words really seem to have no effect on any of these hotheaded youngsters. Even level-headed Inadi had turned into some sort of foolhardy daredevil. No wonder their plans are crumbling around the edges.

He inhaled a huge gulp of water and released a stream of bubbles. Actually none of the other kiddos were to blame. He knew that. He just hated how they were carelessly putting themselves in harm's way and he couldn't do a thing to keep them safe. No – he was at fault. He had to be the role model earlier AND LOOK that turned Rils into a zombie. Celery! He watched as Inadi was onto the seabed. That was not pretty. But first things first. Check on Inadi then provide backup.

He clicked his tongue. "That boss is a pain in the tail."

The smaller angler knelt down beside the injured swordfish and tried his best to assess the damage. As far as he could tell, there was no visible damage. Still there was a possibility that the young man was sustained some severe internal injuries. Niran gave Inadi a polite smile as he waved for Numair to come join them. "Just relax, okay? I don't want you to move and injure yourself more. Numair – would you look after Inadi? I – I've got to go find Lady Boss."

Predicting where that ugly nemo was headed wasn't hard. He followed the screams coming from the other side of the school. His heart sank. There in the center of a writhing mass of emotionless was the vividly coloured Jasper and two school kids. Cheese balls! Celery biting orange … he can't do everything, and Celery fish chips above, please forgive him for what he had to do. Inadi can slug him later, because he definitely wasn't going after Jasper.

"Bleeding hearts – all of us. One day we will land up in a mass grave."

The monster slowed down as it prepared to dash in for the kill. Ran accelerated at a fin tearing pace. His initial burst of speed was just enough to grab the spiny tail. His gills flared out, but he pressed on. Pushing his weight downwards he disappeared into the shadow of the beast. With only his blinding bulb overhead to guide him, Ran continued speeding along the underbelly of the angler, but its surprising vigor far outstripped his.

"Lad – eeee Bos! Veeeeeeeeks?" He yelled in between each massive gulp. The water filtering through made him sound like a half-drowned man crying for help. A scene he usually associated with the Disney version of Alice in Wonderland. Save he wasn't exactly drowning in tea. "Vi – ack!"

He could literally feel his heart hammering as his fingers rested against his sleek skin covered chest. The voice ordering him to dim his light was none other than Vicky's. Niran swapped the white light to a gentle blue quite similar to Lelia's. He gulped as he notice he was nestled somewhat snuggly in a forest of spines. He didn't even want to think about how close he was to the rest of Lady Boss – that was too awkward.

"I watched a show once on lionfish – a cooking show – they said that having the spines out means you are tensed, agitated … stressed? Errr… I can't tell you not to stress, but well, I don't fancy being skewered." He chuckled lightly as he tried to dispel the tense atmosphere. Not that humor would help much. He could already feel chills running down his backbone. This Celery-less spot under the fish was dark and almost soundless – the only sounds they heard was a gravelly rumbling when the fish screeched. Ran bet this place could drive anyone mad in minutes. It was like one of those nightmare scenarios like being trapped in a coffin and buried more than six feet under the earth. No bells to pull to alert the graveyard crew. And the jolting sensation caused by the fish speeding up did little to make things any better. If anything, he was actually swallowing hard to keep his panic at bay. Vicky's a really strong woman to be still so calm after being stranded in this void for so long. "I want to help pull your tail out. You know then we could regroup and end this."

Her voice was masked by more sounds coming from the fish, but he noticed the flaring spines retracting till they were flat against her body. He continued to be tethered to Vicky with just a single hand as he tried to extract each spine carefully. It was not an easy task given one false move could result in a fatal poisoning. He gritted his teeth as he thought of an alternative solution. "Say Lady Boss, maybe I can push against the tubby flesh and you pull yourself downwards as fast and hard as you can? I've already loosened your spines."

He shoved against the slippery flesh with a hand and a tail. There was a loud plop followed by a mass of blood mucking up the entire area. Ran yelled loudly as he and Vicky were sent tumbling down. Somehow he found himself embracing her once more as they rolled gently into the soft sandy bed below. The fish swam off leaving the them facing a wide-eyed, slackened jaw Jasper.

 

[Fox of Spades]

"Hey, Luke! Try to get Nemo's attention!"

Ace tossed him her wooden plank and swam away, a blur of red hair and grey fins. "Don't get hurt," it was all he could think to say. Everything had gone very, very wrong. He didn't know where Gary or any of the HFs were and Toby and Leila were screaming their lungs out not too far from the school. "Come and get me! You're...you're really ugly!" Luke's voice was dripping with venom, but no matter how much he screamed the angler fish ignored him in favor of the now empty school. The fish was bleeding and swaying from side to side thanks to Victoria's and Ran's attacks, and while it was missing an eye, it was still capable of maiming whoever got too close. They needed a strategy, they needed the fish dead and gone.

Jasper was a zombie. Jasper and Riley were zombies.

Harper stood beside Gary, dumbstruck. Not too far from them were Ran and the newly freed Victoria. It was a momentary calmness amid all the chaos. "I...I'm glad you're both okay." It was all he could think to say in this situation because damn it, damn it all! Jasper and Riley were zombies and he didn't even know where the other lost souls or hooded figures were. "The civilians made it out," he reported. "We can focus on the fish now." Harper stared at the mop in his hands and then at the adults of their little group, but before he could say anything or ask about how they were planning to kill the fish, Sacha launched himself at the angler and clung tightly to its mouth. "Sacha, oh god..."

The fish lost whatever interest it had in both Ace and the children and started swimming in erratic circles. It's wounds throbbed and its vision blurred, it was losing blood and Sacha clinging to its wounds and injured eye wasn't exactly helping. The angler slammed itself into one of the broken walls, sending the poor hooded figure onto the seafloor with a thud. It gazed at the boy with its good eye and opened its mouth wide. This was going to be the end, it had had enough. It lunged for the octopus with its mouth wide open and swallowed him whole.

The fish spent a few moments making loud choking sounds, but soon Sacha had disappeared inside it.

"Damn it!" Jeffey repeated Ace's words as he watched Sacha disappear into the fish. "DAMN IT!" He was trying to put on a brave face, but he was crying now and clinging to both Tomas and Ace with shaky arms. "Damndamndamn." He said it again and again then looked away. "Are you...are you going to kill it and save everyone, because...I want to help!"

"You can help by getting somewhere safe, kid!" Both Philip and Madeline had rushed in to help Toby and Leila. Philip lured the emotionless away by banging the two garbage bin lids together and Madeline knocked the emotionless back with a broom she had found in the rubble.

"Celery it!" Madeline had knocked the remaining zombies away from both Leila and Toby. "Are you kids okay? Tigershark," she sounded worried, but she tried her darnedest not to let it show. "You still alive and kicking aren't you, it isn't over...you've still got friends to save."

Phillip nodded. "She's trying to comfort you!" He yelled above the clanging of steel.

"The civilians are safe now, I say we split into teams of two. Some of us can keep these damned emotionless away while the others take care of the fish" The angler was coming towards them but it was noticeably slower now. "IT'S GETTING WEAK!" Madeline's voice boomed across the seafloor. "I say we kill it and save everyone in town!" Phillip noticed her hands were shaking, but he appreciated the yells of encouragement.

"It ate the octopus man!" Jeffey yelled.

Both Madeline and Phillip went pale.

"Then we'll just have to rip its stomach open, won't we, Gary?" He was floating beside C, a pale hand resting cautiously on her shoulder.

 

[Warden]

Read & Respond

Oh, wonderful. Niran left him with the eyeglasses guy.

Still sore about his concert getting cut off abruptly, Numair sighed and wafted closer to Inadi soon as the adult left. From what he could see, the guy had several gashes on his side and back as a result of his earlier tango with the angler fish. The tall and muscular Hooded Figure sighed again. If he just let the Attack Team do their shit before charging in like a mad fool… Oh well. No point mopin' about it now.

Though Niran should've stayed behind… Numair ain't a medic and the closest he got to healing people was dropping a med kit or activating a white magic spell for his online teammates. "Well, hero. We're out of luck," he glanced up at the school gates and looked left to right at the other buildings. There wasn't a clinic in sight and he would waste time searching for a bandage. Shit like that popping out random crates or trashcans only happens in games.

"It looks like we'll have to use seaweed for now." Seeing that it was everywhere, Numair thought they might as well be resourceful and plucked enough to help Inadi with. After the bandages were set he helped the other human up and swam towards the source of the commotion…

​

Victoria wheezed as she clutched at her side with her left hand, her fingers taut over the wounds that have opened up across her skin. Normally she would still be in the mood to fuss over the blemishes that would form on her lovely body, but… These humans and their valorous attacks… They seemed to have forgotten that she was underneath that thing while they went, oh, stabbing provoking mauling the angler fish and whatnot. More importantly, they seemed to have forgotten that there was a Celery-forsaken PLAN! "I will give these children a piece of my mind once the threat has been dealt with," she hissed under her breath but loudly enough for everybody nearby to hear. Those *bleep* *bleep* *bleep* members of the Bait Team stepping out of their boundaries and attacking the fish… Wasn't their objective to lure it, reconvene with her group, and then join forces!? Ugh! Though she was frustrated no other words left her mouth, a dark scowl instead expressing the extent of her displeasure with the execution of events.

The nobody didn't even seem to mind the pain as she gathered her bearings and stared at the zombified Jasper. Another casualty, it seemed. She turned her head away to focus on Ran, unaware that they were just nearby what remained of the Evacuation Team. The fellow adult's intervention was very handy. "Thank you, Niran. If you didn't help me, I would've sliced that bit of my tail off so I could get free. That would have been detrimental to our mission, wouldn't it?" Victoria nodded to subtly show her approval then tilted her face away as an indication that the conversation could continue another time. Niran groped a few certain bits of her body that would've earned him a death sentence in normal circumstances, but she wasn't stupid and knew that there were outside forces that exerted themselves during that moment. The darkness, for one, and the erratic movement of that creature… Not to mention the perpetrator himself seemed like he didn't know what he did. Therefore the offense shall be left untouched and treated as if it did not happen.

The fish was already weakened and they had the opening to end this once and for all! "Just let me catch my breath for a moment."

Numair and Inadi arrived at the scene just in time to see Sacha get swallowed by Nemo, and the subsequent reactions to this turn of events.

"Then we'll just have to rip its stomach open, won't we, Gary?"
​

That thing didn't just… It didn't, right? That was impossible.

Sacchin disappeared in one gulp. Not even one noise. It happened so quickly it left Gary at a loss on how to respond; she only managed to catch the event from the corner of her eye, and was at first convinced that it was a figment of her imagination. The throbbing and squirming mass that traveled down the fish served to break that assumption.

At first she could only hear herself breathe out through her nose, her chest rising and falling with every lungful of water that entered through her gills.

They entered the Midnight Train together and they would leave together too. It was a promise.

Gary's head started to pound and she slammed the back of her clenched fist against her forehead. "That was stupid… Bleeding martyr… Shouldn't have done that," the girl muttered in a brittle and nasal voice, repeating phrases over and over again with each blow. "Broke our promise. Broke it. Lied. Pick up the pieces. Leave without him? Can't do that. Can't." It was all so confusing! Faces and names swam through her mind, begging to be remembered, but they were all blurred and meaningless. The only thing Gary was sure of was that they were all dead. If Sacchin ended up like them, dead gone crippled broken lifeless he was my friend my first friend, then does that mean she would forget about him too? The sweet scent of chocolate in the air, laughter as I pull the door open. Golden. Kind. Warm. Better than the home could ever be. The smile welcomes, makes the flaws go away. Those memories, what little she had left anyway, would be lost?

Amidst the rapidly crumbling tenets of her sanity, Gary found a single thread that kept her from breaking.

First step, rescue the goddamn octopus. Next, whack him for being a selfish moron.

Purpose.

For now, it was enough.

Like a well-oiled machine, the girl swept her pole over her shoulder and gripped it tightly with both hands in a single fluid motion. "Spit him out right NOW! If you won't do that, don't worry… I'LL MAKE YOU~!" Gary screamed defiantly and ripped through the lines in a blur, tackling past even poor Ran and the injured Victoria in a path towards the Tim Burton version of Nemo.

WHAM!


The moment Nemo turned towards the extremely bright ball of fury, the pole hit 'im square in the jaw. Chipped pieces of teeth floated away from the fish. "Stupid cannibaL MONSTER!" WHAM! Right in the light stalk! "You let my best friend GO RIGHT NOW OR I SWEAR I'LL CRUSH YOU!" WHAM! She wasn't joking; the weakened creature couldn't compete with an adrenaline-driven human pumping with righteous anger AND armed with a metal bat. In an effort to stop the assault it spun to the side and tackled her away, and though hitting sharp scales and broken walls hurt a lot, Gary wiped the blood from her nose and got up again. And again. And again. "THAT'S IT, BUSTER! YOU'RE MY SUSHI FOR LUNCH!

"Well. Cheers to my short break," Victoria sighed and went back into the fray.

 

[Capt. Blu]

Farther away from the school

Despite telling him not to, Jeffey did exactly the opposite, making Ace sigh and shake her head. "Kid. You're going to get me in trouble." Ace listened to the boy's cries, not exactly sure of what to do. She never actually had to take care of children before… Hopefully it wasn't as much as a hassle as she thought it would be. Well...at least they were cute...for kids. Speaking of crying, she realized Tomas was clinging to her, sniffling and crying too. Oh boy was she in a predicament. Hearing that Jeffey wanted to help caused a short laugh to escape her. "Kid, you going up against Nemo is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. And if you really think I'm going to let you, then you're dumber than you look." Of course, this response made Jeffey frown up. He didn't expect such a straightforward answer. "Yeah, yeah. We're going to kill the fish. But that's it. We are, not you. You are going to find some spot to sit in that won't get you hurt...Once I can find one." Ace was begrudgingly swimming away from the fighting that was going on. As much as she really wanted to join in on the action, she knew it wouldn't be safe to just toss the kids off to the side. Ace wasn't that irresponsible!...Close to it though.

"I want to help! I have to help! That fish is going to attack my school and all my friends! I can't sit back and watch that happen!" Jeffey debated letting go of Ace and swimming back, but he was admittedly terrified and didn't dare let go of the woman who saved him and Tomas. Any moment sooner and the two boys could have been fish food if it had not been for her. "We can't just do nothing…" His crying stopped finally, and now he had a more determined look to him. Still. He was absolutely terrified.

"I like you kid. You're big talk. You've got a true fighting spirit. Any kid that can decide to stare death in the face is a cool one in my book." Ace stopped abruptly and looked back towards where the fighting was. "But that doesn't mean I'm letting you fight."

"But-!"

"Think about it kid. What did you plan on doing if you were face to face with that fish, huh? You're practically a noodle. You would become a problem….a liability- er, what do kids call it...um...Well, you'd get eaten is pretty much what I'm getting at." That only scared Tomas to the point of crying more. Jeffey knew Ace was right and fell to a stubborn silence. There was little he could really do. "Hush, hush smaller kid! You'll be alright! I just need you to stop...how do you turn a kid off?" As Ace floated in one spot, trying to console Tomas, the emotionless zombies started to notice and swim towards them.

"M-Miss. You might w-want to hurry and swim away!"

"Huh? Ohhh, crud. Hold on tight kid!" Ace swam off, wincing a bit at her torn tail fin. Of all the places the angler could have attacked, why did he have to chose the one appendage used for what she was good at! The injury slowed her down some, but Ace still had plenty of her fiery spirit to push through the pain. "How would the others comfort a kid...How would the others do it." Ace hid behind a building, patting Tomas' back. She thought hard. There was something she would always sing when she felt sad. But what was it! She couldn't have forgotten that too. After some thought, Ace figured it out and was happy to know her memory hadn't failed her just yet.
​

"...You'll be okay...
You'll be okay
The sun will rise
To better days~"​

As she sang, she wiped his cheeks. She remembered times when she too had felt scared and lost. There were times she had been in Nowhere and had been terrified as well...But she couldn't think of those things. Thwy had things to take care of first.

Tomas calmed down enough to listen to the song, and soon enough quieted down as well causing Ace to sigh in relief. "How's it look over there kid?" She looked over at Jeffey who was peeking around a corner to make sure the zombies weren't following them. He looked back, giving a thumbs up. "Alright. Can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm taking you guys back… The evacuation team put the rest of you fishies in a safe zone. I need to get you two there and fast. Who knows what's going on with everyone else…They'll be fine. They'll be fine." Ace scooped up Jeffey once more and held tight to a much calmer Tomas. "Let's hurry." Ace was still itching to help fight Nemo. That creature messed with her friends and definitely needed to pay for it. Little did she know, Gary was doing just that.

First thing was first though. She had to get Kid and Smaller Kid to safety. And do so without the zombie fish attacking them.​

 

[MixedUpGuy]

Seeing Ace knock the angler into next week was a welcome sight to say the least. Doubling over from the pain as the water continued to change color around him he looked at where the injury was located, but naturally only could see a slight glimpse of the problem. There light gashes all along his back but he didn't think they were deep enough to show bone or anything. Lucky for him considering he had no desire to become a vegetable under the ocean here. The hat wearing fish came over to his aid as he tried waving her off only to have her pick him up and set him down just a little bit away from the main location of the fight.

Inadi grew a little frustrated with how he felt and noticed Ran and Numair coming over slowly. He gave a quick look to the girl in the hat and just shook his head. "I don't know how much mobility I'm gonna have for the rest of this little tussle. But then again my whole job was to just be bait right?" He tried to joke as he felt a slight stinging sensation in his back as he noticed a little bit of concern in Ace's eyes. Not sure what she was looking at Inadi just placed his hands out in front of him and did his best to fight through the sting of the salt water mixing with his wounds. Needless to say it was not a pleasant feeling to say the least.

Ace began spouting off something about Jasper's safety and Inadi immediately perked up at the mention of her name. She also told him he was going to 'freak out' about something. Inadi immediately tried to pick himself up but felt another hand grip his shoulder and hold him down. As Ace swam away Inadi realized that the new person was Ran with Numair directly behind him. Ran simply handed him off to Numair for treatment and went back to his part of the plan. The lack of supplies made seaweed the best choice to stop the blood from leaking out for the time being, which Inadi didn't even take into account as his mind continued racing as to what Ace was talking about.

His side still aching and his back now tender from the sores, Inadi tried picking himself up with Numair's help to go where the commotion was around them. "Where did the big fish go? Did he go to the extraction zone where Harper and the rest of them are at that school?" Inadi began asking in a panic. The frenzy of thoughts went through his mind as he tried looking over where Ace had been staring at earlier and tried to pick out what it was she saw in the distance. But his attention was quickly brought towards the sound of Toby's ear shattering cry. He stared intently towards where the sound was and thought he noticed something that made his heart sink and his anger rise. Toby was surrounded it looked like, and someone nearby looked like they had just had their emotions sapped away. But this fish, for some reason seemed familiar even from the length he could see.

It then made sense what Ace had said earlier.

The person was Jasper.

Jasper was emotionless now.

And all he did was act a fool up to this point playing chicken with the same beast that had done it.

His attention was taken away from the horror in the distance to watch as Sacha became another meal for the monster it seemed. Inadi immediately felt his stomach crawl as he knew that he could have been in that stomach with Sacha if he had not moved earlier. This whole thing was going south and quickly. And all for a stupid pearl! Just as he was about to let go and fall to the ground in absolute defeat a bright light shot across the way and began pummeling the great monster with a bat all while being battered herself. Seeing Gary just go absolutely mental made him smile internally, seeing that even with all that bad that just happened, the girl still found strength to fight through that sorrow and put up the good fight. Looking at the makeshift wraps around his back Inadi decided to do take up his role again as well.

Knowing full well his mobility was gone, he decided he could at least try to provide some help for the others were the kids were, and the swim there didn't seem like it would take him long barring serious pain being shot through him. At this point however adrenaline was at a premium. Looking over at Numair he gave the fish a quick pat on the back and nodded. "Thanks for the help guy. And good job on the wraps. Can't say I'd have done much better." Inadi told him with a chuckle as he began heading over to where the school was. As he did though he noticed a fish with a torn tail fin with two kids in her arms. Looking closely he saw that it was Ace and tried to pick up his speed. The wraps began unbinding a bit but he eventually did get to a point where he could at least get within ear shot of the girl. "Ace! What are you doing with those kids? Shouldn't they be in the evac zone already?" Inadi asked in a breathy tone as the two kids got a little bit scared it seemed of his sudden appearance. Trying to wave it off he did his best fix he could do of his wraps. "Don't worry kids, I'm on your side. But needless to say this may not be the best place to exchange..." The sword fish was cut off suddenly heard a nasty set of groans that he had already grown accustomed to here.

Turning around he saw a group of maybe six or seven emotionless coming up on them and he shook his head in agitation. "Damn. These things just don't seem to give one iota if you don't want to see them do they?" Inadi asked sarcastically as he looked down at Ace's tail and saw just how bad the bit was. With the two kids it was going to be hard to get them out, but with his injuries he wasn't even sure if he could carry either of them. Shaking his head he gave one last tug on his sea weed wrap and tried waving Ace off. "I don't know how good of a swim you can get with that bum tail Ace but it's better than mine I think. So you get the munchkins out of here while I take care of the guests," He told her with a determined growl. "And once you do, get to Toby will ya? Heard him crying a while ago so I imagine things aren't going too well." He told Ace as he let in a deep breath as the emotionless got closer.

They hadn't picked them up yet, but it was better that they at least had a target then try to have Ace sneak by them and all that. "Then once the Toby thing is done, find Jasper and keep her safe!" Inadi yelled in anger as he turned back to see the two kids Ace had with her and his traveling companion as well. "I couldn't do it today and that pisses me off. So make sure that big ugly thing dies and I get my Jasper back will ya! Now GO!" He yelled as he began swimming out towards the fish. They picked up on his anger and began slowly coming towards him. Moving as well as he could, he grabbed the nearest fish by the tail and swung it towards two others in the group. Another fish got close but he pushed it away by the throat and drove it to the ground in a thud. Two others though latched onto his back and began jostling for position on him. Shaking as violently as he could he threw one off and tried to reach for the other but not until a bite went through his arm. Yelling in frustration he pried the teeth out of his flesh and flipped the thing on the ground. Gripping his newest injury he shook his head as the group of emotionless began getting up again. Deciding to lead on the chase away from Ace and the kids Inadi began swimming up and over the fish as they began giving chase.

A lot of his ideas in the past weren't all that bad. Now a days Inadi realized he was becoming increasingly stupid in his valor. So much for head strong.

 

[Gossamer]

​

Toby felt lightheaded staring at Jaspers lifeless body from afar, slack-jawed, eyes wide open, floating in place no longer capable of thoughts, feelings or the very traits that make humans human.

Even though the sight only fed the anguish and provoked the emotionless around him, he found it nearly impossible to look away, as if this were a direct result of his actions and the only punishment to befit such a crime was the inability to avoid her lifeless gaze. It numbed the pain in his limbs yet intensified that which was in his heart.

The boy heard his name called out a short distance away, his eyes remaining fixated on what was the former shell of his pale skin friend.

He thought, for just a moment, amongst the incessant groans of the emotionless surrounding him, that Jasper had called his name to chastise the boy, explaining how disappointed she and Riley were that he let the angler snatch their emotions away after he promised the very opposite.

"Toby are you alright?"

The words snapped the boy out of his daydream. The pain in his limbs roared to life as he finally tore his gaze away from Jasper and focused on the task at hand, which was keeping the rest of the emotion ridden from eating his face off.

The emotionless ceased their mindless chewing. Toby could feel their teeth slowly detract from his skin as their attention was diverted elsewhere. With the help of a dim light he followed their gazes.

"Leila!"

He shouted immediately, eyes widening as he watched an emotionless approach her from behind. "Behi-agh!" Sensing his sudden worry for Leila, an emotionless pounced on his face from the side. The boy was still gripping the golf club keeping the others at bay and could only watch Leila struggle with the person before tumbling into his own crowd of emotionless.

The crash pushed most of the mob back, and gave Toby just enough room to swing wildly at them, hoping to scare them off. The boy turned around to see Leila pressing her stingers into the emotionless' face.

"No!"

He screamed, dropping the club and rushing past Leila to the fallen stinger victim.

"Don't hurt them!"

The boy rubbed its singed skin, he felt heavy sympathy for the person and who they used to be. The other emotionless, hearing Toby's plea, began to approach both him and Leila. By now, Phillip and Madeline had intervened, the latter knocking the remaining emotionless with the use of her broom.

Toby remained kneeling beside the singed emotionless, who was completely unaware of his concern for him and merely slobbered on his hand. The boy turned to Leila with pleading eyes.

"It's not their fault, we can't hurt them. They're just like Riley, a-and..."

Looking down at the singed emotionless, he could only see a reflection of his own failure. He had caught the fish by surprise earlier, if he could've just finished it off than, or maybe aim for a more vital area of the body. If he was fast enough, he could've lead the fish far, far away from the school where it wouldn't steal a soul.

None of these were a reality, unfortunately. As a result, C was left impaled, Jasper had been drained of all emotions and Sacha was swallowed whole. All because he hadn't the strength to finish the angler on his own.

The boy clenched his fists, watching as Gary unleashed her anger upon the fish. "It's because of that thing. Celery almighty, I hate that thing, I hate it more than i've ever hated anything ever....We have to kill it,"

Toby turned to Leila, his face a mixture of sorrow and determination, "We have to kill it, Leila. We have to..."

The boy dropped to the ground, his hands searching frantically for the golf club and jagged rock. "We have to kill it," he repeated the words, each repetition more aggravated than before. "I want them back, I want it to give them back,"

Toby scooped up his weapons before turning to the jellyfish beside him once more. "Leila, Ace told me to protect you, but, no matter what I do, as long as that fish still has a working eye, all of us are in danger."

The boy tightened his grip on the rock as he briefly gazed at the girls stingers, which could prove useful, but at the same time would put her in severe danger if not executed correctly. He was conflicted, and wasn't the best at critical thinking.

"I guess what i'm trying to say is, would you like to help me gouge out the fish's eyes? If you say no, I understand," Toby asked the question hesitantly. In this context, he would be equally satisfied with a yes or a no.​

 

[Fox of Hearts]

Ran closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. His head was flat against two soft pillows. Huge pillows. He snuggled a little more deeply then gaped as he pushed away. No. That was just just so wrong! He mustn't think of Victoria like that. She's she ... she's a warrior for crying out loud and a widow to boot. She would kill him for even thinking of her in such a manner, even though she had a certain charm underneath her thorny exterior like a cuddly hedgehog. How much of it was caused by her thirst for revenge was a good question. One that he would never be able to answer. Her need to avenged her late husband was so strong that it seemed to be the one thing keeping her from crashing into depression. That or she was really a strong woman. Feeling the warmth lingering around his face, the artist looked away and his deep brown eyes met Jasper's empty ones. A chill chased away the warmth in his chest and descended into his stomach. Despite remember his choice earlier, he was still unprepared for the guilt washing over him.

Licorice sticks! Inadi had every right to slug him now whether or not Jasper would ever be the same again. He had chosen to abandon her when she was in danger. His head drooped as he blinked rapidly. Tears threatened to spill out from the corner of his eyes, so he threw his head back to keep them from overflowing. No he can't. He just can't. Feeling sorry for himself was the worst possible thing.

"Well. Cheers to my short break."

As the man sat there wrestling with the emotions flitting around inside, he wasn't totally oblivious to the lionfish ranting by his side. Niran watched as Victoria started to leave. He reached out to grab her hand. His darker skinned fingers wrapped around her paler hand. He gave it a sympathetic squeeze before letting go. A sad smile crept across his lips. She was pushing herself for their sakes and yet they haven't shown the slightest concern for her. This would be another thing to add to the growing list of things he won't be able to stomach for a long time to come.

"Lady B – I mean Victoria. A pretty lady like you needs her legs so she can be strong. I'm just glad us Lost Souls can do our best to help. We - we shall take down this fish together." He hung back a little. Hesitated even longer. Then he finally found the courage to add in the last bit. "I will come find you after I get Jasper to safety. She and Rils need to be moved."

The Lost Soul gave the Nobody one last nod then swam over to the goldfish. She was surprisingly calm for one of the zombies. In fact, as she sat there, she looked like a beautiful marble statue among those detestable creatures. He hesitated when he saw Lelia and Toby caught in the writhing mob. Ran wanted to run there immediately then swore. Celery! So much for keeping the lid on his emotions. There facing him were two darkened red orbs. They were so wide and clear that he could see his own nervous reflection in them.

"I – I'm sorry Jasper!"

He yelled loudly as he grabbed hold of both her wrists and pulled them in front of her chest. He kept his own arms straightened as well. Ran bet that this was probably as uncomfortable for her as it was for him. But this was the only way he could pull her to safety while keeping a safe distance from her insatiable maw. He considered pulling some of the emotionless towards him and Jasper, but backup arrived in the nick of time to save the two teens. He breathed a sigh of relief and continued swimming backwards. He shall hide both their soulless damsels somewhere where they won't be harmed by any falling rubble. Like back at the school. Somewhere.

 

[Fox of Spades]

Collab between Four and Fox

"No! Don't hurt them!"

I'm not trying to hurt them, I'm trying to stop them from hurting you!

Though, she didn't speak those words, at least not out loud. She could explain later. Deriving a coherent articulation would have taken up too much of the reaction time she needed to -

whack.

Leila's next lunge went without resistance into empty waters. Only with her recovering from the lack of balance did she understand how the emotionless evaded the assault - or, rather, how it was struck first by something else. A broom.

"I'm alright" was most of Leila's cluster of sentences uttered as Madeline and Philip assessed the damage after the threat was driven away; although that was in stark contrast with Toby nearby, with several cuts left on his skin, and the water near him imbued with the very faint but no less upsetting scent of blood. In the background were his mutterings, growing clearer and more saturated with anger with each iteration:

"...We have to kill it. We have to kill it, Leila. We have to..."

Leila looked upwards. The waters seemed to have become blurrier - perhaps filled with the clouds of dust that were kicked up before the last ones could have settled. The single dot of yellow seemed smudges out in the dust - but it was there, the fish. And it was moving around violently.

"...would you like to help me gouge out the fish's eyes?"

wh - ?

Leila snapped out of her gaze to look at Toby's face. But instead of picking up the traces of emotion written in his expressions, she noticed something else. The water in front of her seemed to glow a little. Very faintly, but light of its own - not that she emitted and reflected off little particles. Parts of the water itself was very dimly glowing, thing fluorescent blue, in find threads slowly flowing - much like the blood the seeped from Toby's wounds.

Her sights traced back to her own arm, where a previously unnoticed cut had likely been open for a while.

Leila then looked downwards, at her lower body, which was now not recognizable from what she was too used to - legs and feet. The effect of a potion that allowed them to be underwater for this long. How did the potion work? If she damaged anything under this state, when - if - she gets to turn back, it would translate back to...what?

She considered the best and worst possibilities, then looked at Madeline, then at Toby. Then she made a decision.

"Madeline?" she said, "May I ask you to help me with something?"

​

​

"Gary," C could only watch as their friend unleashed hell on the monstrous fish that had swallowed Sacha whole, for a few moments, it looked like the pink-haired hobbit had it all under control, but then the fish slammed her against a wall and there was blood. C had a brief moment of clarity and she thought about Leonard and how she didn't want Gary to end up like him. "Gary. Luke, help Gary."

C didn't have to say it twice, Luke shot towards the angler fish and Gary with determination in his eyes, his usual smile, gone. They'd already lost everyone, everyone they had ever cared about. One by one their friends disappeared and then there was loneliness, until they met Gary and Sacha. Friends. Happiness. Now they could lose it all. Again. They had done this all before, but he wouldn't let it happen a second time. He wouldn't.

He barreled right into the already disoriented angler's side and sent it crashing into one of the many walls. Luke sliced his shoulder on one of the angler's many scales, but he felt numb. Gary and Sacha. Family. The goal was to keep them safe. "You can't just fight it alone!" He screamed as the angler shook off the pain and righted itself. "You can't just fight it alone!" Luke repeated as confusion and pain flashed across his face. "You have us!" Luke threw out his hands in exasperation before he went for the angler's light stalk and pulled.

The fish let out a monstrous cry before it rammed into Gary and sent both hooded figures and itself crashing into the corals.

​

The angler fish let out a bloodcurdling roar as it snapped its jaws weakly and righted itself. It's entire body was covered in scratches and it's glowy light flickered weakly. It swayed from side to side, knocking over sharp corals in a fit of rage and injuring itself more in the process. It focused its one good eye at Luke and Gary, hissed angrily and then barreled towards them at a speed Luke didn't think it was capable of possessing.

"Gary! Gary!" The boy hooked his arms beneath his friend's own and they tumbled out of the fish's path just in the nick of time. Luke hit his side against one of the many corals and doubled over coughing. There was a sickening crunch followed by the weak snapping of jaws and what sounded like whimpers. If they hadn't moved out of the way, they would have been crushed.

The angler cried out as it pulled itself away from the pointy rocks that had pierced its side. Blood seeped out of the creature's wounds, coating the water around them a light pink. The light on it's head flickered off for a moment before it readied itself for another charge.

Luke and Gary scrambled out the way before another crunch echoed throughout the seafloor.

She liked Leila's plans. She really, really did. I mean, it wasn't the most well thought out thing ever, but they could improvise. Yeah, sure, they could do that. "Kid, that might actually work." Madeline grinned broadly then motioned for Toby to follow quick. "Help me drag Jelly girl over to the fish, tigershark, this plan of hers could actually work." She was spitting out orders again, the fear and doubt, gone. "Phillip, help long nose and keep those zombies away."

There was another crash followed by the angler's high-pitched wails.

"PINKETTE! HOODIE BOY!"

Luke snapped cocked his head to the side only to have the angler's tail slap him into the sand.

"Swim up!" Madeline cupped both hands around her mouth. "Swim up!"

Blacks and blues swum across Luke's vision but the adrenaline rush helped him pull through and soon he was swimming up, (and dragging Gary because she was seething and he didn't want her to get herself killed) the angler snapping its jaws weakly behind him.

"Don't do anything stupid," she whispered to Leila and Toby before they finally set operation last ditch effort into motion.

"Don't do anything stupid" was a rather amusing notion when the sequence of arranged actions just set into motion could be by definition the most stupid thing she ever attempted.

But there wasn't much time, nor the need to argue about what was stupid and what was not under these circumstances.

"okay." was her response, moments before she signalled the swimming Madeline to let go.

Sailing through the surrounding water. She would slow down, but not too much yet by the time she was in front of the angler fish, by the time she would've been noticeable through the thick layer of dust that still clogged the scene. Still too fast for the fish to get a good aim on where to snap its teeth.

And….now. Brakes.

Holding her breath, she grasped with all the force she could usher the free end of the bundle of tentacles dangling on the other side of the fish's closing jaws. She immediately realized that the subconscious action of holding her breath was much unnecessary because she let out her cries anyway as she felt the threads tighten under the fish's upper jaws and several of them snap under the tension, the severed ends of what was still connected signalling a screaming pain.

Startled, the angler fish twisted its head in the same direction as her weight pulled, and the eventual closing of its jaws carried much less force. Pulling at the loop that had formed around the tip of the fish's snout and secured by its long, interlocking teeth, Leila struggled to get herself a firmer hold on its head - the concave shell of the jellyfish dress engulfing the front of the fish's face, the entire mass of the tentacles pressing against it's surface. On the scales perhaps not much damage could go through, but she was counting on the tips that scraped the corners of both of its eyes, and the threads that ran through the gaps in its large teeth and pressed against the interior of its mouth.

It was hard to do with all the thrashing motions, and not the most pleasant scene to imagine either, but it just might be effective. She drew some bundles of the jellyfish arms into the fish's nostrils, scraping them against the soft inner surface as much as possible.

She could feel the stingers firing, triggered by contact. It was a very unfamiliar sensation - a mix of tinglings at the tip of the fingers and sore aching in the muscles. but something clearly felt: countless microscopic harpoons sinking themselves into whatever surface in proximity, and the toxins flowing through the little tips of needles. It smelled like lemonade and corroded metal. And, moments after, of burnt flesh and fresh blood.

Just a few more moments, she thought as she tried her best to hang onto the wildly and unpredictably moving snout of the monstrous fish. It should be under enough distress to have too little sense left of direction to ram her into anything, and they were high enough above the ocean floor, but…

- Oh no.

She felt the motions suddenly change direction one last time, then stop for one moment. It didn't take her long to realize what that meant, but she was not fast enough to get out of it.

The loop she formed around the jaw was first tightened, then torn clean off as the fish focused its force into one sudden twist of its neck. Her hands were forced to loosen too, for the edge of the scales she held onto threatened to tear into fingertips. The angler fish broke free, taking a bundle of the thin stinging threads with it and a few more fragments sticking to its skin - their light fading as the sand laced waters behind it stirred up in small clouds of glowing blue.

​

Leila finally released it. However, the fish was too busy thrashing and snapping at its jaws to right itself or home in on another target. It was blind now and both its face and body stung from wave after wave of the hooman's abuse.

"Leila..." Luke stared on in horror as the water around them glowed a soft pastel blue. The fish spun around to face him and Gary, its one eye stabbed beyond recognition and the other burned beyond repair. The fish charged towards them but swerved and barrelled into one of the broken down buildings. Rubble and glass and wood came crashing onto the dazed angler and it trashed and writhed, snapping blindly with its jaws and lashing out with its battered tail.

Leila had created an opening, and now it was time to strike.

"Go get 'em, Tigershark!" Madeline gave Toby a reassuring yet hasty smack on the shoulder before she shot towards the floating Jellyfish and took the weakened girl in her arms. Phillip was yelling somewhere, and whatever long nose and the rest were doing, the emotionless were mostly out of sight and crowded near the school. "You did it," Madeline whispered reassuringly as she pulled Leila close. "That blasted plan worked and you did good, kid, you did really good." Madeline looked on worriedly, but the wounds weren't too bad and for once and for all, they could finally put an end to all this madness and save everyone. "Someone," Madeline called out as she swam Leila away to safety. "Help Toby!"​

​

They were winning, they just had to keep the emotionless away from the others for a bit longer! Harper slammed a piece of plywood into several dumpsters before he swam up and caught up with Inadi. "They're winning." It was the only comforting thing he managed to come up with, but he hoped Inadi understood what he meant. Soon, Riley, Jasper and everyone would get their souls back and it'd be over. "We just need to keep them busy for a bit longer." Harper took a hard left and led a few of the zombies away from his friend, if they could break the emotionless up into smaller groups, it'd be easier to keep them under control and away from everyone and the dying angler fish.​

​

 

[Gossamer]

...Leila?

She hadn't answered his question, and merely gazed at him for a moment before observing her own body. Toby, out of curiosity, watched her do so. The sight of her battered limbs riddled with scratches and cuts was surprising to look at. He hadn't notice the state she was in and felt compelled to take into account his own wounds.

Simply glancing at his own body made the boys muscles ache. His back was sore from the fallen debris, his forearms contained a plethora of open cuts after having crashed through a window, and he was bleeding from at least two different places.

There was no use in sulking over the beat-up state, to do so would only feed his exhaustion. Instead, Toby turned back to Leila and listened attentively to her plan, assuming that she was now onboard with the eye-gouging scenario.
​

Kid, that might actually work. Help me drag Jelly girl over to the fish, tigershark, this plan of hers could actually work.​

The boy briefly gazed at both Leila and Madeline, overcome by some type of emotion. To say he was excited would be incorrect, such a feeling was procured through positive means. Simply put, he was dreadfully eager to finish their mission so he can put the day behind him forever and go on about his life as if it had never occurred.

Hope. He had hope that Leila's plan would work and they could all go home, far away from this wretched sea. Toby said nothing in return, and merely assisted Madeline in leading Leila to the angler.

Madeline commanded a worn-out Gary and Luke to evade the area as they approached the emotion stealer. Gary's state was frightening, but she was alive and breathing. It may have only looked more worse than it seemed. Still, it was infuriating. Left and right, loved ones and newfound friends suffered as a result of the anglers existence.

He resisted the urge to help the two as there was still a plan that required execution.

I'm going to do whatever it takes, the boy thought. He avoided saying the words aloud as to not give Madeline cause for worry and simply gave a determined nod in reply.

Toby's mind was flooded with worry as Madeline released Leila. The entire plan was based on her success. Toby and Madeline could only watched as she slowed to a stop and began to wrap her tentacles around the the fish's jaw. The boy cringed as she let out a painful scream, unable to provide any type of assistance just yet.

For the most part, Leila seemed to be succeeding in her attempt to bind the angler. Watching the fish thrash about with her tentacles wrapped around its jaw was literally terrifying and every second was spent in fear of the girls life, every second filled with a fraction of anxiety more than the one before. Trepidation overcame the boy as the angler altered its movements before briefly remaining still. In one horrific jolt the angler yanked its neck in the other direction, ripping Leila apart from the threads of her body.

"NO!"

Once more he could only watch as Leila's body gently floated downwards towards the ocean floor. Although significantly weaker than before, the angler was still a threat and continued to dangerously thrash about. The boy wanted to dash to Leila's aid but a sudden slap on the back remedied that.
​

Go get 'em, Tigershark!​

Tigershark.

Toby didn't feel worthy of the title, but as he turned to watch the emotion stealer blindly flail about, he couldn't help but feel pleased seeing the creature in such agony. The same agony he had inflicted on everybody he cared about. The same agony that drove the boy to tears for the first time in a long, long time.

"Happiness thief," He muttered, with exasperation.

​

With both eyes rendered useless the emotion stealing fish was nothing more than a gruesome heap of flesh lashing wildly, covered in a variety of wounds procured from a number of different people that the boy held thoroughly dear.
​

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.​

It was like he had heard the girls headstrong tone not hours but days ago, the sound of her voice now vague in Toby's mind, and the fish's incessant howling didn't help him to remember. He could feel the suffering of those closest to weighing on his shoulders. That same wrathful drive for vengeance that drove the boy to venture out of City Hall on his own had resurfaced.

The angler produced a hellish roar from its tentacle string jaws before moving the opposite direction of Toby, instinctively lashing out at everything in its path with the hopes of making contact with one of the humans.

"Hey! HEY! ROCKS FOR BRAINS!"

The boy bellowed, tightening his grip on the club and rock with newfound fury derived from the pain of watching his loved ones hurt. Immediately the fish circled around, quickly turning its head right and left in search of noises source. Toby produced one more incoherent scream before shouting at the fish a second time.

"I'M HERE, ATTACK ME! ATTACK ME!"

The fish snarled in reply before dashing blindly in the direction of the scream. Toby groaned anxiously, tightening his grip on the club before exploding through the water to the fish.

His tactic most certainly fell under the category of stupid and the boy bellowed a warcry to shield his mind from changing his mind at the last second. The distance between Toby and the fish decreased rapidly. The very moment the two were on the verge of colliding into one another Toby twirled his body to the right, barely avoiding the collision before arching his body upwards and around, positioning himself above the fish as the two swam in the same direction now parallel one another.

The boy gradually swam upward whilst keeping himself parallel to the fish, his tail vigorously shooting up and down at full speed as he did so. Just as the angler began to slow down, unsure of where its target had gone, Toby shot downwards, gripping the golf club with both hands, his arms high above his head as he brought the weapon down upon the fish's skull from above. The attack, coupled with such kinetic force, wedged itself within the fish's scales, going so far as to crack the bone within its head, the creature severely stunned.

He practically ripped the club from the anglers skull and proceeded to distance himself from the angler, only to dash right back seconds later to strike the creatures skull from the side. The boy repeated the pattern several times, screaming incoherently with each blow.

Strike, evade, strike, evade, strike, evade, each time coming from a different angle, each time catching the blinded monstrosity off guard. The boys arms and tail had gone completely numb as he exerted himself to the greatest extent at a ceaseless rate. Every single ounce of energy that had been developed over the years for the purpose of play and fun was now being used to bash the anglers face in with an iron golf club.

He evaded one last time before ceasing his attack, unable to continue the onslaught. He was panting, his chest rising and falling at a rapid rate as he struggled to keep himself balanced and afloat. The golf club, now dented and out of shape, slipped from his fingers and down to the ocean floor.

The emotion stealer writhed in both rage and agony, it's speed reduced significantly as it struggled to swim straight. Toby was unsure if fish could obtain concussions. He genuinely felt like he had bestowed one upon the angler.

With only C's sharp ocean rock in his possession, Toby dashed right back towards the fish with every bit of speed left in him to drive the pointed tip of the rock into the anglers side.

He grimaced from the inevitable impact of slamming into the anglers sharp scales. The boy held tightly to the fish's scales with his left hand and tightened his grip on the jagged rock with the right, screaming violently as she shoved the sharpest tip deep into the anglers side, his own hand bleeding from gripping the jagged edges so tightly, all the pain and exhaustion drowned out by the insurmountable desire to instill the very same suffering and torment he had been forced to endure.

The emotion stealer had snapped out of its stunned state, immediately roaring in agony as the jagged rock was driven deeper into its side.

With no other options, it began to thrash wildly, left and right, non stop. Toby's limbs ached in fatigue, he lost his grip and was thrown backwards, leaving the jagged rock in the fish's side. The angler continued to thrash about even without Toby grasping on its side.

Just as he turned to swim out of the fish's proximity, its body twisted in the opposite direction, its broad tail striking the back of the boys head who by now was completely drained of all energy and could not withstand such a blow to the head.

Toby's unconscious body was sent careening towards the ocean floor as the angler continued to writhe in agony.​

 

[Capt. Blu]

Attacking Angler

Hearing, and then spotting Inadi call her she responded. "Yeah, don't you think I know that? And shouldn't you not be moving around?" Hearing the groans behind her, Ace grimaced for a split second and held on to Tomas as he hid his face from the zombies. "You're in worse condition than I am. You really think I'm going to let you get attacked by those zombie fish?" Before she could really protest, she remembered she had a job to do. The kids needed to get somewhere safe. They had to be safe. When he mentioned her tail, she looked at it. Pieces of her tail were definitely missing, and at some point it had been bleeding. She examined it a little before puffing up. "I can swim perfectly fine, thank you. Worry about not becoming some zombies chew toy." It was obvious he wasn't changing his mind and the zombies were already beginning to flock towards him.

"Okay. Fish sticks, Toby, Jasper. Got it." Ace swam as fast as she could towards the the evacuation team, unfortunately they were too far away for her to get the kids their safely. She had to move away from the danger. She didn't realize how hard that was until she had to turn away from the fighting that was going on.

The last thing she saw had been Leila wrapping those jellyfish things around Nemo, and man she struggled not to race over to help. "Are you okay?" Jeffey poked Ace's cheek. "You're slowing down... I don't think that's a very good idea..." Tomas looked up at her as well with nervous curiosity, causing Ace to snap back to attention from her own selfish desires. She'd really have to work on the whole staying away from danger thing some time. It probably wasn't healthy.

"Huh? Oh, it's nothing squirts. Just need to get you safe." Ace gave a nod, looking for another route to take. All she needed was another route, another exit. However it was getting really, really complicated with zombie fish crowding around and Nemo not too far away. Why was looking for safety so hard, when it was so easy to spot danger!? Ace was looking left and right, when a shadow caught her attention. Looking up, she spotted Ran swimming past, towards the school- towards the evacuation team. Bingo. "Ran! Ran!" She swam up to him, holding Tomas out to him, and then pulling apart Jeffey's death grip and latching him around Ran's neck. "Take these tiny things to safety. I don't know where safety is!" She nodded to him, barely giving him a chance to speak, and then patted the boys' heads. "It was fun hanging out with you two fish sticks. But I gotta jet and help the others."

Before she swam off, Jeffey called out. "Th-Thanks for saving us!" He watched Ace salute and dart off. "...We never got her name Tomas."

Ace was swimming as fast as she could. Her tail, at this point was numb. It was shredded and numb, but she wasn't about to let that stop her. She planned to give the fish hell before she allowed some injury to stop her. As she got closer and closer, she noticed Toby attacking the fish while the others were getting the zombies away from him and others trying to catch up to him. It immediately reminded her of what Inadi told her. 'Get the kids safe. Get Toby. Get Jasper. Kids are a check. I trust Ran, and there's nothing after him. Toby is-' As valiant of an effort as the hyperactive boy put up, she noticed he was giving out as well. And soon enough, Toby was knocked unconscious with the angler swimming towards him. It obviously wasn't looking to take his emotions. "A little faster. A little faster. Come on you stupid tail." Just as the angler's mouthed opened to reveal sharp teeth, Ace made it in time to grab the angler's light stalk and pull with all her might. "You will not be eating him thank you." This time, as the angler tried to shake and rear her off, she didn't let go. She only held tighter and pulled to annoy it. As it thrashed about, taking it's mind off Toby, the angler decided to ram into the wall to knock Ace off- however it didn't expect her to move at the last second.

"Ha! Come and get me you fat fish!" She taunted as it shook debris from its head. Blind and angry, it swam towards the sound of her voice. "You're moving too slow!" She yelled as it swam after her. Thankfully, with debris came lots of useful weapons- like the sharp wooden plank she grabbed off the ground. By then, Ace had stopped moving, waiting for the angler to come closer. "That's it...Just a bit closer…And-!" Ace swung the wooden piece at the fish….only to find out she missed its face? But how could she have missed!? It was a clear shot! Turned out the fish had sensed the attack and ducked down- however that didn't stop him from getting his light stalk ripped off. Ace managed to catch something. This something had the fish angry and once more it's mouth opened, attempting to clamp down on her tail again. "Not again you-!" A million curses ran through her mind as once more the fish managed to bite at her already messed up tail. Instead of yelling out in pain, she held her breath and used the wooden plank to stab into the fish's head at least until it let go. When it did, she heaved a sigh, preventing herself from yelling out it pain. Several mumbled 'ows' were replaced with it instead. Her already splayed out tail fin now had multiple holes and looked as if had been turned to ribbons in some areas- not to mention the bite marks on her actual tail. The fish was trying to immobilize her from swimming away. She had slipped from its grasp several times and it was trying to prevent that from happening again. Which meant she needed to get away before she lost her entire tail. The angler did manage to slow her down, but that didn't mean Ace was going to stop swimming. Even despite the forming clouds of red that drifted around her tail, she still some how managed to swim out of the angler's reach.