"ARE YOU WORRIED about your master, Yukino?" Stephanie asked, giving Yukino scritches under her chin.
𝑆ℎ𝑒'𝑠 *purr!* 𝑛𝑜𝑡 *purr!* 𝑚𝑦 *purr!* 𝑚𝑎𝑠… *purrrrr!*
Yukino tries to voice her protest, but the only thing Stephanie can understand is that the snow kitten is purring in response to having its chin scratched.
The duo had just come out onto the deck of the Ranger after having something to eat.
Dante, having worn himself out exploring, is napping below deck somewhere.
Twenty minutes pass by in relative silence for the most part with the exception of an occasional purr from Yukino.
The prisoners that were being keelhauled are dead — three from suicide from biting off their own tongues the rest died from their injuries of being tortured.
Blackbeard had put a stop to their healing after determining that no one was gonna talk.
"Any sign of Kino?" Ian asked, walking up and wrapping his wife in a hug from behind — he kisses the top of her head, "mmm, yummy, nothing beats the taste of sweat and grime."
"Right, because that's what every wife wants to hear from her spouse."
"I can think of a few things every wife definitely wants to hear."
"Oh, do tell." Stephanie turns to stare up at her husband.
As Ian goes to answer her he's interrupted by someone shouting from the water.
"Hey, Stephanie, I found some merfolk! Dr. Pervert, I need you to examine one of them!"
"There's a spot on the other side of The Kraken! Take them over there!" Stephanie shouts back.
"Got it!"
"Now what am I supposed to do with this?" Grumbles Ian, looking down at the bulge in his shorts.
"Hey Kino, give us about ten minutes!" Stephanie shouts after her.
"Okay!"
Stephanie grabs Ian's shorts, undoes the belt, and lets them drop to the deck. She undoes her own shorts as she turns around, bends over, gripping the ship's railing. They both had been going commando.
Yukino watches with curiosity — her tail swishing enthusiastically as Ian enters his wife.
Fifteen minutes later Stephanie with Yukino in her arms, and Ian, finally come walking up.
Kino had taken off the hood, gloves, and shed the top half of the suit, and is currently sitting with a towel draped over her shoulders.
Yukino jumps from Stephanie's arms and heads for Kino, who picks her up, placing the kitten in her lap.
"You alright Stephanie?"
"I'm just peachy. Why do you ask Kino?"
"Cause you're walking kinda funny."
Stephanie blushes. "I'm fine, don't worry about it. Introduce us to your friends."
"From left to right it's Jafar, Murrissey, and Bay, who's in need of your medical expertise Dr. Per… ahem, I mean Dr. Kaine."
"Hello, I am Bay."
"Greetings, I am Dr. Ian Kaine and this is my wife Dr. Stephanie Kaine."
"Hiya."
"So Bay, how can I help you?"
"You got any experience with merfolk anatomy?"
"Does gutting, descaling, deboning, and fin removal on a fish count?"
Both Jafar and Murrissey are not amused by this comment, but Bay just laughs it off. He lifts himself out of the water, plops down beside Kino, and reveals his tail.
"As you can see, trying to swim with my tail like this is nigh impossible."
"I have a healing potion I recently acquired back on the ship. I'll go get it." Ian turns to leave.
"Never mind then. Can't afford to pay you for it."
"Then how about an exchange." Offered Stephanie.
"What kind of exchange?"
"One healing potion for everything you guys know about this labyrinth, including how to get out of here."
"That's all you want? This exchange is still skewed in our favor."
"Then tell me everything about Merfolk."
"Really? Like what exactly?" Bay asked.
"My husband and I are explorers. We travel around researching things like culture, religion, politics, and habitats. That sorta thing."
"I see…" Bay closes his eyes and folds his scared muscular arms, thinking… "very well. I'll tell you what I can and I'll introduce you to others that'll help in your research."
"I'll go get that potion."
"Can you bring Dante back with you?"
"Sure thing, Kino."
"Okay, I have to know, Kino, are you a summoner?" Stephanie asked me.
"Nope."
"Not a summoner, but yet can communicate with Dante and Yukino."
"Is it really that strange that I can talk with them?"
"I find it even stranger that two legendary beasts have accepted you as their master.
After all Dante is a Fenrir — as far as I know very few can tame one. And Yukino is a Snow Kitten — thought to be extinct. I only know of its existence from my research into legendary beasts."
"Here, take a look at this; Status." Bringing up my status screen I point at my extremely rare skill: Converse.
Stephanie looks over my shoulder to what I'm pointing at. "Interesting. I've never heard of it."
"This skill is what lets me talk with pretty much any creature."
"I'm honestly jealous. Ian and I have studied countless creatures. Documenting what we see and how they react in nature." Stephanie begins muttering to herself.
"Imagine what we could learn: favorite foods, likes, dislikes, what do they do for fun, sexual preference, what do they think of humans, oh, what if each individual creature has its own unique personality."
"I'm gonna talk to Yukino now." I tell Stephanie, but she's off in her own world.
The mermen just watch us in silence.
"𝑌𝑢𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑜, 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑝𝑡 𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝐼 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑔𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎 𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑒?"
Yukino looks up at me, "𝐼 𝑎𝑚 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑡𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑒 — 𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑒, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑛𝑜, 𝐼 𝑑𝑜 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟."
"𝐴𝑟𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑚𝑒 𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑙 𝑤𝑒 𝑒𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑝𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒?"
"𝑁𝑜, 𝐼'𝑙𝑙 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑦 𝑏𝑦 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑤𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒."
"𝑊ℎ𝑦?"
"𝐼 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔."
"𝑊𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑦𝑜𝑢 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑓 𝐼 𝑎𝑠𝑘 𝑦𝑜𝑢?"
"𝐼𝑓 𝐼 𝑓𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑖𝑡."
"𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑒."
After our conversation I realized Stephanie at some point had stopped muttering to herself and gazed intently at us.
"You two were just talking weren't you?" She asked.
"What if I said no?"
"I'd call you a liar, because I heard you say, 'I'm gonna talk to Yukino now.'"
"Well color me impressed. I thought you were off in your own little world. Not paying me any mind."
Stephanie beams at me. Eagerness written all over her face. "You want to know what we talked about don't you?"
Her smile grows bigger. Confirming my suspicions.
"Alright fine, I'll tell you."
Ian eventually returns — Dante nipping at his heels. Bay accepts the healing potion and downs it. Jafar and Murrissey watch in amazement as Bay's tail is fully restored —but the scars on his arms remain.
Bay slips back into the water, and dives — his companions follow suit.
Dante stares at the water, tail wagging, panting happily. I give him head pats and ask, "𝐷𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒, 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑝𝑡 𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝐼 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑔𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎 𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑒?"
"𝑌𝑒𝑠."
"𝑊𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑚𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑤𝑒 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒?"
"𝑌𝑒𝑠."
"𝑊ℎ𝑦?"
Dante looks up at me with its cute puppy-dog eyes. "𝑊ℎ𝑦 𝑛𝑜𝑡?"
This catches me off guard. Did this hyperactive pup answer my question with its own philosophical question?
"𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑚𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑠 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒." I say scratching behind his ear. Dante wages his tail in response.
Bay, Jafar, and Murrissey return and offer their praise of gratitude to Ian.
"Now then, shall I tell you the secret of this labyrinth and how to escape it?"
"Could you wait until I've brought Captain Hornigold and Captain Blackbeard over here, so they can listen in?" Asked Ian.
"We can join them on their ship."
"Really? How?"
Jafar holds up his right hand. "With these silver bracelets we can transform our tails into legs."
"Couldn't you have done that when Bay's tail was damaged?" I asked.
"No. Any injuries would have transferred to the legs as well."
In an excited voice Stephanie asked for a demonstration.
All three hold up their right hand — the silver bracelet on their wrist starts to glow enveloping their bodies in a bright light.
When the light fades, all three merfolk climb out of the water and stand before us on two unsteady legs, naked, but on two legs nonetheless.
"Oh my, what fascinating specimen you guys are." Stephanie exclaimed.
She slowly moves towards them, hands out — making a grabbing motion.
Ian walks up and karate-chops his wife in the head, "down girl."
"Ouchie! That hurt you big meanie. Now I have a headache."
"Would you have preferred that I slap you on the ass?"
Stephanie reflexively covers her rear, and in a quiet voice "no thanks, that's still sore," her ears turning red.
"Let us head to The Ranger. I should have some clothes you three can borrow." Offers Ian.
"Perfect. I wanna change outa this battle toad suit." I said.
Wearing clothes they borrowed from Ian; Bay, Jafar, and Murrissey are in Captain Hornigold's quarters along with: Stephanie, Ian, Captain Blackbeard, Vice Captain Seymour Dukey, Kino, and of course Captain Hornigold.
Yukino is on Kino's lap, and Dante is lying at her feet. After exchanging pleasantries, Bay begins his exploration.
"This sea labyrinth is actually a prison. Created by Princess Ceto's mother Queen Geneva over fifty years ago."
"Was it the gill-man Queen Geneva had imprisoned here?" I asked.
"That's only one of the factions Her Majesty had locked up."
"How many factions are there?"
"Grand total four. There's: The Gill-man, led by Glagrid, The Vodyanoy, led by Urchin, The Kappas, led by Krindal, and lastly The Deep Ones, led by Dagon.
Those are the four factions, however the one who united them all under his authority and rules over them with an iron-fist is Yacuruna, or as some have taken to calling him Boss Yacuruna."
"How many in each faction?" Asked Blackbeard.
"Each leader has around fifty soldiers under their command."
"That's it? A mere two-hundred troops."
"That's how many are left after the war. Back then each commanded a legion of around three-thousand troops."
"You look pretty good for someone over fifty." Said Seymour.
"I'm thirty-one. Everything I've told you I learned second hand from records kept in the library, and from some who remember that war. Also known as the Legions Invasion."
"Bay, can you share some of your history with us?" Stephanie asked.
"Where should I begin?"
"Start with the war you mentioned. That should give us a rough idea of what we're up against now."
"Very well."
****
(Fifty years ago)
"Your Majesty, I have the investigation report you requested."
"You may proceed."
"Um, well you see… the thing is…"
"Dammit Captain Barracudon, this is no time to hesitate. Answer Her Majesty's question."
"Forgive me, Queen Geneva, Minister Hurley, this is not an easy matter to broach."
Captain Barracudon takes a moment to compose himself before speaking, "King Merpus's whereabouts are unknown at this time."
"Then I order you to lead a search party for him at once." Said The Queen.
"I cannot."
"I am giving you a direct order, Captain. Now go."
"Forgive me Your Majesty for I cannot follow those orders."
"And why not?"
"Because the Kingdom of Atlantis is currently facing a vast army composed of Gill-man, Vodyanoy, Deep Ones, and Kappas.
They're approaching from the Tansy Kingdom's territory. Which is located to the south of our board. Their estimated size is a legion of each faction."
Murmurs of "Oh no." "Can we win?" "We're doomed," and such ripples through the audience chamber. This news has everyone on edge.
Never before in the history of their kingdom has there ever been a force this vast that challenged them like this.
With a raised hand from the queen the room falls silent once more. The captain continues.
"I am the Captain of the Queen's Guard. My sole responsibility is your safety and well-being first and foremost.
With the absence of King Merpus, you are the current ruler. I'd be remiss in my duties if I left in search of His Majesty. For if the unthinkable were to happen while I was away
"I could never forgive myself and I couldn't go on living in this kingdom any longer knowing that I failed in my duties of protecting Your Majesty."
Minister Hurley nods his head in agreement, "Captain Barracudon is right. For the sake of the kingdom you must live on — to lead us in this time of crisis.
We must trust and believe that His Majesty's personal guard will bring our King — your husband back to us."
A slew of curses escapes Queen Geneva's lips — under her breath of course. It would be inappropriate for someone of Royalty to utter such words in front of their subjects. After taking a breath Queen Geneva asks, "how far away are they?
"Our scouts say they've already crossed the boarder into the kingdom."
"When will they reach us?"
"At their rate of speed — roughly two days from now." Replied Barracudon.
The Queen rises from her throne. "Captain Barracudon, Minister Hurley, and members of the royal court begin preparations for a siege."