I woke at my usual early hour, and Carla was not around. I collected the dogs and went down to the beach for a swim. There was no sign of Carla, but her scent was in the water. I kept the swim short. There was no fresh fish for breakfast, but Soph had brought goodies from home.

I was cooking sausages when Carla walked up from the beach in all her naked glory, scales glistening from the water. I gave her a wolf whistle. She gave me the finger.

Soph appeared at the door bleary-eyed and only wearing panties. I think the wolf whistle drew her out, but she paid more attention to the sausages.

“Happy?” I asked Carla.

“Oooh yeah. Watch.”

She stood next to the SUV and, from a standing jump, lept over it.

“Fucking hell!”

“And that is not boosted. That is just the sixty per cent increase. My scales are harder, and if I boost them, they might deflect a bullet - not that I am going to test that.”

“Probably not a direct bullet?”

“Probably not, and not a high-powered one either.”

“We could semi-test it when you change and get descaled. We could test the scales.”

She nodded.

“Sixty per cent stronger?” I asked.

“And sixty per cent harder,” she said, walking up to me, “A lot harder than you get,” she said, rubbing my groin.

“So you have put on weight, you fat bitch. Oow!” That’s right, her hand was at my groin.

“I may be heavier, but there is no fat.” She demonstrated by lifting her arms above her head and turning a slow naked circle in front of me, displaying her tight body and smooth lines.

“I am not sure I got a good enough look. Could you do that again?” I moved back out of reach this time. My electroreceptors detected the arm movement. “So you are not really faster?”

“Only a little - maybe five per cent. I want to change and see what a difference this makes. I want to try the shark form in the ocean.”

“Are you sure?” Soph said, “We are a long way from help.”

Carla nodded. “I am sure.” She squatted down before the frying pan and snagged a sausage out of it. “Ow,” she juggled the hot sausage for a minute before biting into it.

“Well, we just discovered her scales are not heat resistant,” I observed as I dished up what I had cooked, and we all dug in.

After breakfast, we headed down to the beach. I took a blanket as we wanted to collect the scales. Carla stayed naked, as she saw no point in dressing.

Soph changed from her panties to a bikini bottom, which provided less coverage overall. “My fur gets too hot,” she complained. I wasn’t complaining.

I just shrugged and stayed naked, as that was how I swam. Carla thought it was fun teasing salutes out of me. Maybe I should go back to being called the Fucktoy.

I laid the blanket on the sand, and Soph called Rich over to supplement her borrowed skill. Carla lay down on the blanket.

“Are you sure?” I asked.

She nodded.

“I will try projecting soothing, calming feelings,” Soph said.

“Keep the whirlpool going. Direct everything into the change.” I reminded her.

“Yes, grandpa,” she said like an annoyed kid.

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She nodded to me, and I started the river flowing.

This was rougher- much rougher. There were two peaks, one where the scales fell off and another when the shark's scales, teeth, and fins grew. The second one lasted much longer. She was in pain, and I could tell Soph felt it and struggled to send back calm. I felt it even though I was only sending through the link. Her screams echoed off the hills around the cove. Repeatedly. She struggled to keep control, and she mostly managed it.

Fucking hell, why would she ever want to do this? Crazy Bitch.

It was over sooner than I expected, although it seemed to last forever.

Carla lay exhausted on the blanket, surrounded by scales. Soph looked emotionally wrung out and exhausted. My Essence pool was under half, but I looked at the time, and it only took about twelve and a half minutes- less than the first but the same as the second.

Carla spat out a tooth. There was blood in her mouth. I passed her a drink bottle, and she washed her mouth out and spat blood on the sand. She just rested for about five minutes before she sat up. Soph helped her.

Then she grinned at me, displaying her teeth.

“Wow, that is scary. There is no way you are giving me a blow job like that. To be even scarier, leave the blood in.” She had a row of wicked, sharp, pointed teeth filling her mouth. Shark teeth.

Soph handed her a mirror.

Shark scales are not shiny like fish scales. They are actually small shaped pieces of bone covering the body, providing protection and smooth flow through the water. I touched her new scales, and they were smooth in one direction and rough when I went back against the flow lines.

Then there were the fins. No one wonder she sat up. There was a shark dorsal fin on her back along her spine. I was shaped like a shark's fin, coming to a point and rising about 30 cm from her back. She had two other fins coming out from each ankle and the side of her leg. They were extended about 20cm out from her leg, and when her legs were together, they would make natural flippers. Fast and built for the water and that mouth of teeth… wow.

“I very much like it,” I said, getting looks from them both. I want to see how you go in the water. Your body's strength and the fins will make you incredibly fast, and then you can boost. I am jealous." I got up and held out a hand to help her up, “will you show me?”

She grabbed my hand, “Sure, let's dance.”

We went down into the surf and dove under, and she was away. She was fast, smooth, and quiet in the water, even with my enhanced hearing. I boosted my eyes to see better as she would flash past. She jumped out of the water, easily clearing it, and Soph clapped from the shore in delight. I guess she was feeling Carla’s happiness and joy. After all that pain, it is good to see her get some joy from it.

After half an hour, I went back onto the beach and sat with Soph, watching and enjoying the day. Carla tugged on my Essence Pool every now and again as she practised boosting, not having recovered her pool after the change.

As I sat by Soph, she said, “You are happy, and you are not. Why?” That is right. She could channel Rich’s Skill now.

“I am really happy for Carla. She needs this after all the pain she went through and has to go through every time.”

“And?” she prompted.

“I am a little jealous. Swimming is my thing, but only a little. Mostly, I feel like the weak link here. You are coming into your powers. Carla is coming into hers. I don’t seem to have that much.”

Soph was silent for a minute before she said, “You know Carla would be dead without you?”

I nodded.

“She couldn’t change at all without you and your Essence pool.”

I nodded again.

“I am betting she is drawing on your essence now because hers isn’t big enough to boost her this long,”

I nodded again.

“That, " she indicated to where Carla was, “is all you. She owes everything to you and we,” she emphasised again, “and WE will never forget that.”

She continued, “Then there is this incredible brain you are hiding. Who worked all this out and made everything possible? You did. We. Owe. You. Everything. All of that is on top of your incredible senses, poison and underwater prowess. There is no weak link here. We are a badass fucking threesome.”

“You are very good at that,” I said.

“Emotions are my thing.”

“BFT. Badass Fucking Threesome.”

“No, stop it with the acronyms.”

“They are good.”

“No, they are not.”

Two hours later, Carla turned up with a Kahawai in her hand. It had teeth marks on it. I cleaned it, and the dogs and I ate it raw as she disappeared again.

Carla came back an hour later, pretty exhausted, and we all went back to Bucks Estate for a late lunch.

“I think I know the problem,” Carla said. “I changed from Fish to Shark directly. That’s why it was so difficult. Not that it is ever going to be easy. I think I have a default form, and that is my skin or near-human form. I think the easier changes will be to and from my skin form.”

“Do you want to try it?” I asked.

“Yes, but I am going for another swim first, maybe more than one.” Two minutes later, she was asleep on the blanket.

“Sleep first, then swim,” I whispered to Soph. She nodded, and I took the dogs for a walk in the bush.