(The Ranger below deck)
"WELCOME TO OUR HUMBLE abode." Stephanie opens the door to her and Dr. Pervert a.k.a Dr. Ian Kaine's room.
I, along with Dante, and Yukino follow her into the semi-cramped and messy room.
"Excuse the mess."
"It's fine." I say while looking around.
Two hammocks, a square window above a small table suspended by chains protruding from the wall, two stools, clothes, books, and papers strewn about.
Dante goes about sniffing here and there; while Yukino arches her back stretching, then finds a spot, curls up and shuts her eyes.
"How'd you guys swing getting your own room?"
"We've used Benjamin Hornigold's ship many a time. So much in fact we're considered honorary crew members whenever we're aboard."
Stephanie moves to the table, folds it into the wall, revealing a chest underneath. Lifting the lid Stephanie begins pulling things out that clearly exceed the chest's dimensions.
"Is that chest some type of storage item?"
"It is. I had it custom made; it can hold up to five-hundred items regardless of size, but if the item is bigger than the lid I can't store it."
"Can I show you something?"
"Go ahead." Stephanie said, still rummaging through the chest, "yay, found it."
"Inventory." A black hole looking thing appears beside me.
Stephanie drops what she was holding, stupefied by what she now sees. She takes a step towards it.
"This is my storage item; a.k.a Inventory." I demonstrate by partially pulling out a red wing from some kind of monster. "I have no idea how it works, or what its limitations are, if any." I put the wing back.
"...Fascinating." Without warning she sticks her head in the black hole.
This sudden action catches me by surprise. She pulls her head out before I can pull her out myself.
"Oh good, you're alive. I thought you bought the farmer there for a second."
"𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡'𝑠 𝑎𝑛 𝑜𝑑𝑑 𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛 𝑎 𝑝ℎ𝑟𝑎𝑠𝑒. 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡'𝑠 𝑖𝑡 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛, 𝐾𝑖𝑛𝑜?" Asked Proteus.
"𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝑑𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 '𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛 𝑎 𝑝ℎ𝑟𝑎𝑠𝑒' 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑠, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 '𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑟𝑚' 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑠?" I asked the God residing in my head.
"𝐻𝑢ℎ, 𝐼 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙."
"You mean to tell me you never stuck your head in to see what it's like?"
Stephanie's question snaps me back to reality. "It never crossed my mind…maybe, I can't say for sure. What made you decide to try it?"
"When you pulled that wing out, I noticed that it looked really vibrant — like you recently stuck it in your inventory. That led me to think it has a time stopping function."
"Then how did you pull yourself out? Did you see everything in my storage? And how did you not suffocate?"
"It was pitch black, I couldn't see anything. I even tried moving my head, but found I couldn't however I could still think and because I could still think I figured I could tell the rest of my body to back up and ta-da I'm out. Oh, and I held my breath."
"What if you couldn't have pulled yourself out?"
"I wasn't worried. I can hold my breath for up to ten minutes as long as I'm static. So that just left me banking on you pulling me out."
"Do you always take risks with your life like that?"
Stephanie looks me square in the eye and says, "I'm immortal. I can't die." in a deadpan tone.
We continue staring at one another for what feels like forever. Stephanie smiles, breaking her facade.
"Just kidding. I may seem reckless, but I assure you I calculate everything out. Weighing the pros and cons of each situation."
"And what led you to believe that I would've saved you?"
"You don't get to my position in life without being able to read people. Some people are open books, some take a little bit to figure out, and then there's some that are unreadable."
"So which one am I?"
"Based on what I've seen so far; you're not easy to read, but you're also not fully open either."
I can only nod at her assessment of me. "Did you find what you were looking for?"
"Yuppers. It's this right here." Stephanie picks up the thing she had dropped earlier.
"This is a battle toad suit. It covers the whole body from head to ankle, it's waterproof, cut resistant, and pierce resistant to some degree.
"Has a lining that helps keep you warm, absorbs sweat, and prevents chafing. I also have customized webbed gloves and webbed toe shoes for improved swimming.
"It has two enchantments placed on it. Auto size adjustment: allowing it to fit the wearer no matter their size.
Auto camouflage: this increases your stealth abilities by blending in with its surroundings."
"What's a battle toad?" I asked.
"It's a C-ranked toad monster that likes to fight."
𝑊ℎ𝑦 𝑑𝑜 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑢𝑟𝑔𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑎 𝑏𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑎𝑑? I wondered to myself.
"Well, let's get you suited up." Stephanie said cheerfully.
I strip down, put my clothes in my Inventory, and step into the suit.
I start by pulling the suit up over my feet, then I pull it up to my waist, I slide my arms in next, I pull on the webbed toe shoes, webbed gloves, then pull up the hood.
The auto sizing kicks in adjusting itself to fit me perfectly. "How do I look?"
"See for yourself." Stephanie pulls out a full length mirror from her item box.
I stare transfixed at the image reflected back at me. It's just my face floating there — the auto camouflage had activated.
Stephanie tries desperately not to laugh.
"You knew this would happen didn't you?"
"...N-no, *𝑠𝑛𝑜𝑟𝑡* n-not at *𝑠𝑛𝑜𝑟𝑡* all." Stephanie hides her face behind the mirror.
Her shoulders shake as she suppresses her laughter.
"Try saying that while looking at me."
"...Give me a minute would you?"
Kino doesn't respond. It's only when Stephanie hears a splashing sound outside her window that she pulls her face out from behind the mirror to find Kino had left.
"Impulsive that one. I didn't even get a chance to tell her I have breathing apparatus that she could use."
𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑤𝑒𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒. 𝐼'𝑚 𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑓𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑢𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 𝑙𝑜𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑏𝑒𝑑 𝑔𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑜𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠. 𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑏𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟. 𝐸𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑚𝑦 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑖𝑠𝑛'𝑡 𝑎𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑎𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒.
I continued doing laps while actively looking for underwater caves until I could no longer hold my breath.
"Where is she?" Stephanie scans the water's surface. Then a shadow under the surface catches her eye. She watches as Kino breeches. "Thar she blows!" Shouts Stephanie.
"Do I look like a whale to you?!" I shout, treading water.
"Did you find anything?"
"No nothing. I can only hold my breath for so long."
"Well if you would've waited a bit longer I could've given you this breathing apparatus as well." Stephanie waves the apparatus above her head.
I swim over to the ship, climb up and over the rail. My feet barely touch the deck when Stephanie tosses the apparatus to me. Catching it, I look it over.
It's a black and silver lower half-face mask.
𝐼 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝐼'𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑔𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑓𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑜 𝑔𝑎𝑚𝑒. 𝐼 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑗𝑎 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠.
Pulling down the hood — I affix the mask to my face, and pull the hood back up.
"Want me to get a mirror?"
In a muffled voice I say, "Not funny."
"This mask will allow you to remain underwater for a full twelve hours, unless of course you get into a fight.
When the silver part turns black you should get to the surface or some place with air.
"Once that happens it will be unusable for a full twenty-four hours. So think carefully while using it."
After Stephanie finishes her explanation, I respond with, "Got it." and get ready to jump back in when I remember something. "Look after Yukino and Dante for me."
"Sure thing."
****
In one of the many sea caves three mermen are hiding out in one of those caves they modified into an emergency meet point.
The cave is sixty meters long — twenty-five meters wide, and about seven meters in height. There's only one way in and one way out, which is ideal for defending, however, this can backfire and become one's grave.
Even here icicle-shaped stalactites give off a natural glow, offering plenty of light.
Two of the mermen remain in the water. They are Jafar, and Murrissey. While the third merman, Bay, is seated on a flat rock near the water.
"They got her." Reports Jafar.
"Dammit… how long till they find the key?" Asked Bay.
"Unknown."
"We should ask that human for help." Suggests Murrissey.
"What good would that do?" Jafar asks, "Humans are not capable of doing much of anything when underwater."
"But if we can get them inside, they may be able to help."
"Even if we literally pulled them, no human can hold their breath that long."
"Jafar, Murrissey, you two are overlooking one major issue."
The two mermen look at Bay sitting there with his scared muscular arms folded.
"Care to elaborate further Captain Bay?" Jafar asked him.
"We do not know if that human is even capable of combat. That goes for those aboard the ship's as well. For all we know they're non-combatants."
"You make a fair point," said Murrissey, "but humans are known to be a wiley species. It's possible they have something that'll allow them to swim like we do."
"Fair enough. Jafar, Murrissey, I leave the task of talking to the humans to you two."
"With all due respect, sir. One of us should remain here with you encase they find you."
"Jafar is right. You are in no condition to fight them off alone. And with most of your tail missing you can't out swim them."
Bay glances down at his yellow tail — over two-thirds of it is missing courtesy of his fight with one of the gill-man. "Fine I concede your point. I'll let you two decide who stays and who goes."
"Should we decide on who stays and goes by the usual method?" Asks Jafar.
"Shoushiling." Said Murrissey.
"Shoushiling."
""And shoot.""
It's a tie.
""And shoot.""
Another tie.
"""Shoot."""
"I win." Said a muffled floating face and hand sticking out of the water.
Jafar, Murrissey, and Bay are taken aback by this. The face and hand climb out of the water.
Kino pulls down the hood, takes off the mask, and removes the other glove. With the auto camouflage still active, she appears to be just a floating head and hands to the mermen.
"Who are you?" Asked Bay.
"Names Kino. A mermaid named Ceto asked me to save her people."
"...Ceto asked 𝑦𝑜𝑢 for help?"
"Yes. And you are."
"My apologies. I'm Bay, former captain of Princess Ceto's personal guard."
"Former?"
"I couldn't keep the princess from getting captured. And with my tail damaged like this…" He trails off.
"I could ask the ship's doctor to take a look."
"Thank you. That may save my tail, but it doesn't change the fact that I failed in my duties to keep the princess safe."
"Is she dead?" I asked.
"Not likely."
"Then you can redeem yourself by saving the princess."
"You seem rather optimistic for someone who doesn't understand the rules of dealing with royalty."
"And who're you?"
"I am Jafar, a soldier under captain… I mean former Captain Bay. This is Murrissey, also a soldier under former Captain Bay."
"Well Jafar, you're right I don't understand the rules. But then again Princess Abby never imposed any rules of any kind when I traveled with her."
𝑁𝑜𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠.
"That's some big claim. Name dropping Princess Abaddon like that." Guffed Jafar.
"So if I say I've met Queen La-tif and had a foot race with Prince Teru you wouldn't believe me. Oh and I've met Belphegor as well."
"Without someone to verify this, it's all lip service."
"That's enough Jafar," chided Bay, "arguing about it is a waste of time. Kino, I'll take you up on your offer. Please take me to your doctor."
It's then that Murrissery speaks up for the first time since Kino arrived. "Where's the rest of your body?"
"Huh?" I look down at my body, "oh right I'm wearing a battle toad suit with an auto camouflage function. Totally forgot I was wearing it."
"I see. Thank you for explaining."
"Let's get going, time is of the essence." Said Bay sliding into the water.
Suiting back up I slip into the water behind him. With a wave of my webbed hand I motion for them to follow me. Which they do, pulling Bay along given most of his tail is missing.
♪𝑆𝑤𝑖𝑚𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑠𝑤𝑖𝑚𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑔𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑎 𝑘𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑠𝑤𝑖𝑚𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑠𝑤𝑖𝑚𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔. 𝐽𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑘𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑠𝑤𝑖𝑚𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑠𝑤𝑖𝑚𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔♫ 𝐻𝑢ℎ, ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝐼 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒?
"𝐼𝑡'𝑠 𝑎 𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ𝑦 𝑡𝑢𝑛𝑒."
"𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑠 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑡 𝑡𝑜𝑔𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟, 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑢𝑠."
"𝐼 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑦𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑠."
"𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑤𝑒'𝑙𝑙 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑢𝑝 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑜𝑤𝑛."
"𝑆𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑."
Kino and Proteus have a sing-along as she swims along, the mermen not far behind.