"Oh.........em.........GEEZY, NADY! Lookit! They have a fish taco stand.........UNDERWATER!" Shantrice shrieks, overcome with joy and wonderment. This dimension they've been transported to-a completely aquatic version of earth called Oseaaq-is the most remarkable thing she's ever laid eyes on, but for Sinead? Not so much.
"Shan.........for the love of God.........I already saw it! I'm not fuckin' blind," she gripes, rolling her eyes. "I don't know what's so fuckin' amazing about some muthafuckin' fish eating fish anyway."
Sinead has been moping around, arms folded in indignation and feeling her usual regret for tagging along with her best friend. For the life of her, she can't figure out why she unfailingly agrees. She is always thinking that she'd rather not, intending to rebuke Shantrice's offer with the strongest no to ever be uttered, but results are consistently opposite. Every. Single. Time.
"Well, it's not about fish eating fish, obviously, but I mean, how many times have you been to an aquatic dimension with a damn fish taco stand?" Shantrice pauses after that inquiry, but abruptly continues before Sinead can respond as the question was rhetorical. "I'll tell you how many: ZERO! This is fuckin' newsworthy shit! Uncommon territory, literally!"
"Shantrice.........we're not here to eat and gush over food stands," Sinead sighs. While it is true they didn't come there to eat, she can't deny the rumblings in her tummy. Nevertheless, she ignores her hunger. "Actually, we shouldn't be here at all, but you and that damn professor and y'alls inventions, always opening up gateways and shit."
"Hey! Don't fault us for our interest in the unknown! We do this for science anyway!" Shantrice declares as she marches along, holding her head high like she was Madame President speaking to an auditorium of packed students and constituents. "Besides, you're never doing shit. Learn to live a little."
"Ugh! Whatever, Shan!" Sinead screams, storming off in a rage. Due to her current disposition, she accidentally activates one of the abilities she has copied, causing jawbreaker-sized holes to appear on her face, her neck and the back of her hands. These holes erupt with an intense, silver fire that bursts through the protective gear she's wearing.
Even with exposure to the aquatic atmosphere, the flames aren't being squelched, which doesn't bode well for Sinead as her suit is now filling up with water. Before she can even get a grasp on the situation, the entire area is ablaze, including the fish taco stand Shantrice was raving about.
"Oh no, Nady! What the fuck have you done!?"
"Don't yell at me, dammit!" sneers Sinead. "I wasn't trying to do this, it just happened!"
Her anxiety has reached an intensity of 50,000 as she struggles to repress the flames and deal with the water entering her suit. Although the uniform has an advanced form of nanites that can fix any kind of damage as well as suppress Eclipsed abilities in dire situations, they aren't able to perform those actions for some reason. The fire is apparently overpowering them, something Professor Corsair most likely didn't factor in.
Also, being that the required training to manage this power had only recently started, it's no surprise Sinead is experiencing zero success.
"Shit! I'm sorry, Nady! I really am," Shantrice replies, feeling distraught. "I know you weren't. Nevertheless, we gotta do something about this fire and you-IMMEDIATELY!"
Shantrice is trying to keep a cooler head-no pun intended-and simultaneously bring soothing to her bestie. Quite often she forgets just how quickly Sinead can become flustered in intense situations. It's amazing that UpShift was even able to convince her to join the Safeguard Junior Guild. Although, she has surmised that Dexter joining may have something to do with that.
"Well I don't know what to do, Shan!" Sinead wails. "The guy I replicated this power from didn't know how to use it himself, which left me shit outta luck!"
"Okay, okay! Just try to calm down," Shantrice sighs, simultaneously feeling exasperated and enervated. "Your panicking is making me panic."
"Well you should be panicking, Shan! I might drown out here!"
As Sinead is persistently trying to recall the flames, something comes barreling towards her in a state of supercavitation, slamming into the poor girl. The impact knocks her about three yards away from Shantrice, and possibly out cold.
"Ohshitohshitohshitohshit-SINEAD!" Shantrice yelps. She raises her left arm and presses a rectangular button, arming a miniature cannon located inside the forearm of her armor. "Alright! Whoever just hit my fuckin' bestie, show yourself or I'm blasting every cotton-pickin' thing in sight!"
Overhead appear a trio of massive shadows, blocking out what little sun was visible. As a possible response to Shantrice's threat, the shadows descend and reveal themselves to be a humanoid shark, whale and squid.
"Oh my fuckin' Lord.........," Shantrice shudders.
Realizing she's in over her head, she tries to activate the teleporter on both her and Sinead's suits, but the latter is too far away. Her hopes of reaching Sinead are dashed for now, as the path to her retrieval is blocked by not only the humanoid creatures, but a wall of roaring flames.
"ShitshitshitshitSHIT!"
"Don't go screamin' now, bitch," roars the humanoid shark, which appears to be a hammerhead and also female. "Where's all that tough talk from a few seconds ago?"
"Tough talk? Tuh! Bitch this is who I am!" Shantrice growls. "Now, I'll admit, y'all got me outnumbered, but one of y'all attacked my friend, so somebody's gotta pay. Who's it gonna be?"
The humanoid whale, also a female, steps forward. "I can handle this runt, Demetria, unless you object?"
"Go right ahead, Nadine," Demetria chuckles. "I wanna see what the bitch is really made of."
Shantrice grunts and cracks her knuckles, an action which sounds extremely weird because it reverberated inside the gauntlets of her armor. "Alright then, fuck it. Bring it on, Shamu. I'm gonna kick your tubby ass."
"We'll see about that!" Nadine roars, lunging towards Shantrice at breakneck speed, almost too fast for the girl to dodge.
"Fuck! You move like a fuckin' NFL player!"
"I don't know what this NFL is that you speak of, but I did play Oseaaq-Orb in high school," Nadine explains.
"Yeah.........that's pro'lly the same thing, but I'm just gonna end this discussion here. This is weird," Shantrice groans.
"Suit yourself!" Nadine barrels towards Shantrice in a supercavitating state, similar to what Sinead was hit with moments ago. Either she was her assailant, or all of the inhabitants of Oseaaq possess this ability.
"You're not gonna pull the same move twice, wench!" Shantrice tightens her left fist, firing a blast from the cannon she armed earlier. "Take that!"
A pulsating sphere of electricity soars towards Nadine, striking her directly in her blowhole. The attack sends a shock through her nervous system, disabling her for the time being.
"Well shit, that was easier than I thought!" Shantrice snickers, feeling overconfident. "One down, two to go! Who's next!?"
🌊🌊🌊
Comments