[What a beautiful creature.] The Scientist marveled mentally, his annoyance at the sudden attack suddenly lost in the flood of endorphins. [A shame mantis shrimp on Earth don't get this big.]
Manifesting beside him, the incorporeal Spirit answered with a shutter.
[That is probably because whatever divinity watching over Cosmos is a merciful one.]
They may have a point. Mantis shrimp found in the Indian and Pacific oceans ranged between 10 to 40 cm. Or at least they did until some deranged Arbiter opened the Aether floodgates. It would be best for humanity if they never had to face something like the Elemental Battle Shrimp.
Saltwater dripped off its black, white, and blue harlequin shell as three pairs of legs struggled to hoist over one and a half meters worth of Beast ashore. That was only the creature's height, including the segmented abdomen that dragged on the sand; its total length was closer to three meters. Both of the Shrimp's trinocular compound eyes could move independently on their stock, but both were trained on the Human, as evidenced by the six black dots Morgan could see. Every time he twitched so much as a finger, the Shrimp's pair of pale blue calcified clubs did likewise.
Other than a significant scale-up, this Beast was identical to the Earth animal, save for its two black antennas. Instead of being short and perched forward, these resembled a true shrimp in being long, flexible, and curved behind to rest on top of the abdomen.
[What do you think Shrimpzilla wants with us?] Asked Morgan as the monster came to a halt after trudging a third up the beach. [Normally, I'd say it was protecting territory, but from the Bestiary entry, I'm guessing this is one of the invasive Beasts we were warned about.]
[I'm not sure, but if it wishes to make Lamplight a home away from home, it can have the place. So long as it finds food below the waves, who are we to stomp on a shrimp's dream?]
[I couldn't agree more.]
Though it pained the Scientist to lose such an irreplaceable asset as the solar generator, the Monk was right; it wasn't worth a fight. Without the laptop, the generator served little more than a fancy phone charger with unknown future applications. While he'd been itching to try some of the Techniques developed for combat, it felt wrong to test them on the poor beastie so far from its origins.
[We don't have the time for a pointless brawl, so I'll pull the generator away from the water while you keep it distracted.] Ego decided on their own before appearing at the edge of their range, putting them a stride or two from the generator. That also placed them directly behind the Beast, from which they quickly shrank away from. [Wow, umm, this guy is a lot bigger up close… Could I get a little help here?]
Morgan snorted aloud at the impatient Monk, the movement enough to make a dreadlock draped over a shoulder fall to his chest. The left club dripped water as the limb rapidly twitched, altering its position fractions of a degree until becoming a blur of blue.
*Pong*
What was that sound?
It sounded crisp and somewhat familiar, but he couldn't place the-
"Oof!" He grunted as an invisible force with the yielding nature of a balloon filled with syrup, and the velocity of a car slammed into Morgan's right shoulder. The unseen blow spun the man, sending him tumbling onto all fours on the sand.
[What the-] Sputtered Ego. [Morgan, what hit you?]
[That is a good question.] He projected, and from that low position, he got a particularly menacing view between his swaying hair of the slowly advancing Beast, another folded club twitching. [Give me a second to find out.]
The Scientist watched for a hidden projectile right up until the limb became a blur of high-speed motion. But saw nothing.
*Pong*
Morgan threw himself to the left, and the patch of sand where his head was exploded for seemingly no reason. He turned the tumble into a roll and kept on rolling as the sound of clicks and fine dust filled the air.
[Roll this way!] They shouted, and a quick peek showed Ego was even further away from the machine. [The sooner I can drag the generator to you, the sooner we can get out of here! So roll this-]
Morgan tuned them out as opportunity reared its beautiful head. In the area of the beach he'd roll on too soon was not just one, but two hefty sticks.
Salvation incarnate.
*Pong*
As the latest patch of sand was blown to kingdom come, Morgan snatched both sticks and hurled one underhand at his aquatic attacker. Taking a risk, he spun into a crouched position and took aim at a quivering club but only threw at the signal.
*Pong*
*Crack!*
To his satisfaction and surprise, the mid-air collision shattered his stick almost as if a hardened baseball had struck it. The piece of driftwood felt solid, but perhaps an unseen fracture was to blame; luckily, his first projectile performed as expected. Coming down from its high arc, the stick bounced off the Shrimp's abdomen. The Beast flinched, its next shot going far to the right and surprising the hell out of an unsuspecting clump of seaweed.
Seizing the momentum, the Professor charged forward, his vision darkening as the Bloodline allowed him a peek behind the metaphysical curtains. A good play for the Shrimp's Qi was already flowing to the Body strands within the club; however, he was in for a special treat today.
A couple of dozen strands fully exited the club and began saturating the space in front of it, creating a perfect sphere of smoky green energy. Upon reaching the size of a grapefruit, the limb began twitching once more as the Shrimp took careful aim.
Now, the Scientist had definitely seen this trick before, though this was the first time he'd seen it weaponized. This Beast took a page out of the Pholóē trees of the Swamp and, instead of using Qi to alter the body, chose to manipulate the air. Based on the blow he had already received, perhaps the speed of the air molecules was slowed down so that the molecules could arrange themselves into fixed positions. It is also known as how water becomes ice or, in this case, how a bubble of air becomes a cannonball.
Which would explain the sound.
*Pong* The Beast struck the Qi sphere, creating a sound similar to a wooden paddle giving the business to a particularly hated ping-pong ball.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Just as with the Harpy's darts, being able to see the projectile in flight was more than enough warning to dodge to safety. In fact if Morgan didn't have to close the distance for the Monk, he could have backed away to render the attack harmless. With every second in flight, the Prana energy rapidly dried up, going from smoke to haze by the time he sidestepped the attack.
A nonlethal, very energy-efficient attack… Almost as if the Beast was only trying to drive Morgan away from the beach. But what value could the shores of an island be to such a massive aquatic creature if not food?
[Stop right there, that distance is perfect!] Called the Spirit as they took hold of the generator's handle and tilted the heavy machine on its wheels. [I'll let you know when we need to start retreating to the AHHH!]
Ego's directions became a pitched scream of terror in his head as the Battle Shrimp threw a wrench in the plan. Instead of dealing with the current target, who was still running right for it, the Beast whipped its massive body around to charge an entirely new target.
"What did I do?!" The Spirit demanded as they dragged the generator in a panicked shuffle doomed to failure.
What had the Monk done to piss off the big guy like that? Was it Ego's sudden appearance that set it off, or had the reaction something to do with… Uh-oh.
The ecologist sucked in a breath as a thought occurred, and he reread the Bestiary window. What he found was troubling, to say the least.
"I think Shrimpzilla thinks the generator is an elemental tree!" Morgan bellowed, grabbing the Shrimp by its smelly tail only to become an anchor dragged along for the ride. "Throw the battery at it!"
"But without-"
"I know how to make a battery from scratch, not fix a fucking solar generator smashed by a rampaging crustacean!" He barked while willing his Body Foundation to flood the right leg with Qi.
"Oh, in that case, please enjoy!" Ego twisted and pulled the fist-size energy cell free before hucking the hot item high into the air. They manifested running alongside Morgan the moment after the battery took flight. "Now what? If Shrimpzilla wants the fruit, it'll want the tree, too."
"Then we'll have to teach it about getting out when the getting is good."
The fruit fiend was already slowing down upon seeing the airborne prize. Both club hands were stretched outwards, ready to accept a somewhat familiar gift in an unfamiliar world. Sadly, its jubilation was doomed to be short-lived as class was in session.
Morgan triggered his second Technique. Within his leg, the free-floating Qi condensed into a tightly woven circular grid pattern that any construction worker worth their hard hat would recognize at a single glance. Rebar. Which was not only the Tech's name, but was also a shamelessly improved version of the Harpy's own Qi reinforcement method.
Kicking hard off the sand, the Professor jumped onto its abdomen and kept running even as both stocked eyes shifted to regard this unauthorized passenger. Only for those delicate eyes to hastily pull apart from the other as a size-11 boot heel came barreling down like a headsman's axe.
*Thwack*
Just as the battery was caught, his axe kick smashed into the Shrimp's thick-plated head with a reckless strength that would have certainly shattered non-reinforced bone. Morgan hardly felt any discomfort besides remorse as he used that same leg to spring off the stunned Beast towards the generator's silhouette. Soaring through the air with the ringed hand outstretched before him like Superman, Morgan finally got within range.
"Intra-!"
Out of nowhere, a thick cord wrapped around Morgan's right ankle before whipping his body backward and flinging him away like trash.
Flipping end over end in his forced flight, the Scientist tucked into a tight ball. The moment the beach and sky were in their proper orientation, he dug all his limbs into the sand. Ego manifested behind the man and caught his waist. By the time they both came to a stop, ten meters again separated them from the goal.
"Huh. Apparently, the antennas are prehensile. Who knew?" The Scientist chuckled dryly as they both watched Shrimpzilla manipulate its wiggling appendages like an elephant does its trunk. This was likely a display meant to intimidate, but with the Bloodline active, it appeared the Beast was playing with red pool noodles filled with green LEDs.
"I wish we did. Now we're back to square one, huh?" The Spirit breathed out with a dramatic sigh.
"Eh, not really." Morgan shrugged and stopped feeding Qi to reinforce his leg. "Now that the Shrimp knows we are a potential threat and want its precious tree, I doubt it'll risk chasing us. So let's just head over to Momo and get going."
"W-what?" They sputtered, their Essence flaring up chaotically. "But we can't go without the- I mean to say, we shouldn't leave such a valuable tool from your homeland to rust away on some random beach."
"Oh, why not? It's not like we need it, and clearly, someone here wants it more than us."
"Well, I uh… He-he." Ego let out a burst of nervous giggles. "Actually, we kinda do need the generator to charge the phone…Alright, to be more accurate, you need the generator to charge the phone." At his questioning glare, no doubt twice as effective with his enhanced black and red eyes, the Monk crumbled. "You need the phone because I may have, possibly, used it to record your Cultivation research."
"Since when?" He demanded, already fearing the answer
"The day before we first left Lamplight Isla." The Spirit squeaked, backing away from the glowering man.
The Scientist suddenly felt the crushing weight of the dead device in his pocket; the idea that all recordings of his most extraordinary breakthroughs and notes were currently unavailable was disturbing. He turned toward the confused arbor guardian with a scowl, its presence now far more intimidating.
"It made a lot of sense at the time." Ego continued to babble their explanation, "There's just so much information you want me to record because of how meticulously you note every little factor. Merciful Dao Morgan, I've written enough in the phone documents in just a month to fill two and a half notebooks alone. Really, digitizing the whole process was the only viable option; not including the one sacrificed for the map and used for visualizing Breath, you only brought 23 of the 100-page books."
"Damn it Monk, do you know how hard it was to find actual paper books in 2074 when- Hold up." The Professor's justification of his spending was scrapped as he realized this conversation had just skimmed over a problem. "If you've been using the phone since the get-go, what happened to the books I already gave you for recording?"
"He-he, funny story about those, and like all good comedies, that tale is best told in the proper setting. So maybe we should deal with the crustacean in the room before anything else."
The Monk's attempt at logical reasoning would've been more convincing if not for guilt keeping them from maintaining eye contact for longer than a second. However, the Battle Shrimp was already growing restless at these two hostile figures still refusing to take a hike. Despite no activity in the Beast's Prana energy, its twin clubs twitched in anticipation.
Muttering to himself, Morgan dropped the phone, sunglasses, necklace, and anything else in his pants pockets onto the floor before storing everything within the Dimensional Ring. Said ring was then slipped into a coat pocket before he hung the coat on the branch of a fallen tree.
Perhaps out of nervous tension, perhaps out of genuine curiosity, Ego couldn't help but blurt out, "My knowledge of Earth professions is limited, but I'm pretty sure scientists only need a lab coat if they, you know, work in a lab. I've never really given it much thought before, but why do you even own a lab coat?"
"Well, the reason for that is also a funny story, and like all good tragedies, it's best told in the proper company." The Professor paused halfway through uniting his last boot. The knuckle on his recently reunited pinky grew white as he subconsciously dug it into his palm. "Ready?"
"I'm right beside you." Ego promised like they actually had a choice in the matter.
Barefooted and well-motivated, Morgan triggered Rebar to reinforce everything from the elbows down to his fist. The Shrimp, picking up on their intention to continue fighting, made its own preparations.
Placing the battery between the eye stocks, Morgan watched as the Beast's Mana snaked from the Mind Foundation to coat each club. Once thoroughly coated, the vaporous energy's texture shifted into a solid state resembling Qi. Looking closer, he noticed a line of Mana ran from each club up to each eye stock. The Scientist became further confused at the sounds he heard when it started banging the clubs together.
*Zip, Clang!*
*Zip, Clang!*
"Ohh." Exclaimed the Spirit. "That's what the Bestiary meant by supplementing its fighting style."
Understanding he was the one missing something, Morgan deactivated Perception and saw what everyone else did. The once-white calcified limbs were now encased in what looked and sounded like iron. Every time these metal gloves came together, electricity arced between them.
*Zip, Clang!*
"Ego, should we survive this, I need you to add to the Prana document that Mana has the ability to mimic physical matter as well as other mundane energy. Now let's go ask Mike Shrimpson for my friggin charger back."