Corporal Claws was, as Fischer would say, back on her bullshit. She cackled and stretched her forelimbs even wider as she channeled chi up into the clouds. They roiled and billowed, her essence combining with the world’s, but rather than mix to beco sothing new, her power charged the surrounding area with positivity.
And not the silly positivity her master loved so much. This was the good kind of positivity—the kind that could create lightning.
More and more... what were they called? Mullen-tools? Mollercools? Whatever. The tiny little things you couldn’t see that made thunderbolts. More and more of them beca positively charged in the clouds above, the gap between the upper and the lower atmosphere getting larger until, blessedly, it happened.
Boooom!
A giant sh of thunder filled the sky, all channeling down to a single—extrely cute—point. Corporal Claws. They poured into her, filling her body to the brim in an instant.
Almost there...
Almost... there...
Almooost...? Why is it taking so long?
Claws glanced down—and found betrayal. That little raccoon bastard. He’d been stealing from her, absorbing the power necessary for her task. He wanted so, did he…? Well then, could have it!
Letting out a deafening screech, she lashed out with a rear paw, and a column of solid lightning zapped from her outstretched leg to slam into her familiar’s chest. His blue eyes rolled into the back of his head as he shot across the sand like... like... sothing very fast! I don’t have ti for this!
Claws returned her attention to the electricity still thrumming around her, and now that the thief was dealt with, it took only a mont to absorb enough. She clenched her forepaws, condensed the power into them, then slamd all of it into the object before her. It was gone in an instant. The sands drank greedily, the natural electricity not following the objectively superior path her chi did—which was, of course, into others’ cores. What good was zapping the ground?
Only so of the sky’s lightning made it into the center of the object she was working with—it would have to do.
It glowed red hot like a tiny sun, but such worries were beneath an elental. She picked it up, and when she started chucking it between her paws, it was because she wanted to—definitely not because it’s blistering heat hurt her paw pads. The color subsided over ti, and when she could once more hold it without getting burn—errr, when she grew bored of playing with it, that is—she reached out with her awareness.
Her task wasn’t yet complete. Despite this, a soft rumble climbed from her chest, building until it beca a villainous cackle. She projected it toward the heavens. Knowing he was needed, her familiar returned in a roly-poly tumble. Claws held her paws out, letting him inspect the item—which he tried to snatch, of course, but she head-butted him first.
Shaking himself, he bowed in apology, and Claws patted him on the shoulder. He didn’t have to apologize for who he was, just as she didn’t have to apologize for her thod of rebuke. Both were simply the way of things.
They shared a grin, their cores both humming in delight as her little raccoon placed a paw on the item. He channeled chi into it, his will doing sothing that even Claws, in all her magnificence, couldn’t accomplish. He would take a few minutes to finish, so the otter let her thoughts wander. Her master ca to mind. Though her plan hadn’t yet co together, it was only a matter of ti until it did. Claws grinned. Fischer was going to be devastated. Befuddled. Bamboozled, even. Perhaps—
She paused her victorious musings to head-but the raccoon again, the blow landing before his thieving little paws could finish yoinking her prize.
He bowed in apology again, and Claws patted him on the noggin. He was a good boy, if sowhat botherso. As her familiar’s chi reached back down into the object, she let her thoughts return to the trickery she was brewing.
She couldn’t wait to see Fischer’s face when he realized…
***
As I stepped up to my ship’s railing, I smiled at the sea of stars above, their pinprick lights as beautiful as ever. I’d been fishing all afternoon and hadn’t gotten a single bite—no one had. Despite this lack of action, there were no complaints as Bob the boat shifted beneath us, a slight gust making the ocean choppy.
I lifted my rod—er, winch—to check the hunk of eel I’d just baited up with. With a nod to myself, I twisted the reel forward and flicked my hook and sinker over the side. They made a satisfying plop upon entering the waves, and even with my enhanced vision, I could only see them for a ter or so before they entered the abyss, vanishing from sight.
A soft thud indicated its arrival on the ocean floor a half-minute later. I clicked the reel back into place, grabbed the tal handle, and started winding. I’d been trying different depths all day, and this ti, I was going higher than ever before, only stopping when a full third had been retrieved. I set my finger on the line, took a deep breath, and waited.
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Though I slipped into ditation by accident, I wouldn’t necessarily call it a mistake. Small waves lapped at the hull. The deck rose below , only to fall again. And so of my pals chatted softly, their voices calming rather than distracting. Most, however, joined in quiet contemplation, the contented hum of their cores mirroring mine.
By the ti I cracked an eye, hours had passed. A crescent moon cast its epheral light over the world, and I watched its reflection in the waves below, marvelling at how it flickered across the undulating water. An ache in my lower back grabbed my attention. I straightened, shoulders relaxing and chest going forward as I anded my posture. Now that I was paying attention to my body, I noticed a building hunger.
Maybe it’s ti to cook up so dinner...
I opened my mouth to ask how everyone else felt about a calamari feast, but the silence was shattered by a screaming reel instead.
“Oh!” Paul yelled, leaning back as his rod bent in half. “Fish on!”
When the creature he’d hooked took off in a straight line, then beca deadweight, I imdiately suspected it was a squid. When it happened again, suspicion turned into certainty.
“Squid on!” Barry corrected, seeing the sa thing I had. “Nice one, Paul! You’ve got—” The muscle man cut off as another animal, very likely a squid, did its best to yank him overboard.
“Here they co, everyone!” I called.
But they were prepared. All of my friends, no matter their size, level of cultivation, or how pregnant they were—looking at you, Ruby—had their rods in hand. ready to strike. I scanned the line, taking one last look while I could, and…
“Cinnamon…?” I heard myself ask. “What are you…?”
The martial bunny was standing atop Borks’s back, who was using chi to wrap her in dark tendrils, keeping her in place. Held in her limbs, its handle having to be gripped by three of her paws, was a damned fishing rod.
I could have sworn I saw a sparkle in her eye as she winked at , only sparing a mont’s attention before her gaze returned to the waves. And not a mont too soon—sothing took off with her hook.
I barked a laugh and turned away. As much as I wanted to watch her and Borks’s attempt at fishing, my chance had finally arrived. The sounds of battle were all around , gears whirring, wood creaking, and a few dismayed curses flying free as lines were severed. Part of my mind urged to turn back. Demanded that I see how everyone was going, especially Cinnamon. But I remained focused, my eyes watching my tal winch for even the slightest hint of movent.
I opened up my ntal partitions and poured chi into them. If soone had asked in that mont if I was ready, I’d have sworn on my life that I was—and I would have been dead wrong.
The second sothing ate my bait, I lifted the rod, setting it so the fish didn’t escape. At the sa ti, I reinforced the winch with chi, using an entire partition to ensure the hook wasn’t destroyed again.
Rather than pulling my rod from my hands, or making fly overboard, it was more accurate to say the creature tried to fling over the horizon—such was the speed and force with which it struck with.
I’d been so focused on ensuring my equipnt survived that I had not considered how to keep myself tied down. My eyes flew wide as thick tendrils of chi exploded from . They raced in every direction, latching onto the one thing they could—my newest friend and facilitator of adventures: Bob.
He lurched into motion, dragged sideways through the open water at a disgusting speed. The hull groaned under the pressure, my System-made vessel not designed to take so much force from the sides.
I didn’t know how, but I had to get to the stern. If I remained here, I’d lose the fish. Or worse—annihilate Bob.
“Make way!” Barry called, his voice barely registering in my ears.
He was beside a mont later, one hand resting on my shoulder as he helped ease my way to the front of the ship. It seed to take an eternity, each step requiring to shift the tendrils of chi securing to the deck. From the corner of my eye, I saw soone haul a squid up, remove the hook from its body, then throw it back.
They’d sacrificed their catch for … It would have brought a tear to my eye if I wasn’t busy worrying my arms might get pulled off.
The hooked creature wasn’t making my slow passage any easier. It went and went and went, never seeming to tire despite how much energy it must be exerting. Because my line was tal, I could feel each kick of the robust creature’s tail. It had a sort of rhythm, and as the fight dragged on, I grew accustod to it.
By the ti I reached the stern, my steps felt like they were soone else’s—my dance with the hooked creature took the lion’s share of my attention. I’d not yet wound the reel an inch. We were sailing straight now, and Bob’s transford hull sliced through the ocean like a scythe through perfectly cooked fish. I planted my feet atop the stern, solidified the ropes of chi holding still, and gave the world a toothy grin.
I’d misled Bonnie earlier, if not outright lied to her face—I had been anything but certain her winch would survive the creature’s return, which was why I’d looked at Theo and wordlessly implored him not to spill the beans.
It was the good kind of lie, a deception employed to assuage her doubts and restore confidence. If her creation had failed, I would’ve blad myself, pinning the lack of success on a mistake. But there was no need for that contingency. The rod held firm, fortified by a uniform distribution of will.
Shoulders set and core braced, my grin grew even wider. It was my turn.
I lifted the winch with all my might. If not for the essence strengthening it, the solid bar of System-made steel would have bent in half. But it was strengthened. And as I lowered the tip of the rod down toward the water, I wound in line, the reel complaining loudly with the effort.
Almost too late, I took so of the chi around the pole and reinforced the furthermost ball bearing; it was handling most of the strain, the rigid tal not distributing the load. If I’d waited even a second longer, it would have cracked.
With a smile that felt wider than the ocean we occupied, I used every ounce of power I had, both physically and ntally pushed to my limits by the gigantic creature towing us through the waves. This was exactly what I’d been looking for. I’d found a worthy fight.
Water raced beneath us at an incredible clip, and I didn’t truly comprehend just how fast we were moving until an island ca into view. It was on the horizon one mont, and beside Bob only seconds later. Considering the war I was waging, normally I wouldn’t have paid the land mass much attention—if not for the human-made structures atop it.
Houses, a well, and paved roads, all in a state that revealed recent use. There was a wooden dock too, its weathered planks reaching tens of ters out into the ocean. A few watercraft were tied to it, like canoes but a little wider.
All of these objects were remarkable, yet none of them held my attention for long—a lone man was the target of my fixation.
He stood at the end of the dock, stroking a wizened beard as he stared out, our gazes locking. With unexpected grace, he nodded and gave a polite wave.
He stood at the end of the dock, stroking a wizened beard as he stared out, our gazes locking. With unexpected grace, he nodded and gave us a polite wave.
“Hellooo!” Ellis called.
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