"Right this way," Meth said as he ran, Arthur behind him.

They needed to pass the city's outskirts, but they couldn't simply go through the city borders because it was heavily guarded, so they headed to a rendezvous point, where they'd somehow acquire a way to pass the area without being detected.

As they ran further into the city, the conditions got grimmer, not New York City level, but trashy enough to be seen as distinct from the more posh district of Raned.

"Right ahead," Meth said as he broke a house's door and ran into it. They entered a "crack house" with broken home materials spread about, emptied drugs and needles on the floor, and the remains of a dead goat in the middle.

"Why are we here?"

Meth put his finger to his mouth, hushing Arthur as he looked around. While walking down the room, he placed his hand on the broken walls. "Zoork! Show yourself, damn it."

A man came through the entrance, grabbing Arthur by the neck.

Arthur's body grew scales, turning more fishlike, much like when a human gets goosebumps, he developed fish skin.

Meth turned around, placing his hand in the air as he pointed it towards the commotion. "Stop!"

The man let go of Arthur, pushing him away and closing his eyes as his voice erupted. "Who the hell is that?"

"Zoork, that's Arthur." Meth held his hands in the air as he smiled. "Arthur, that's Zoork."

"Why the hell did you enter the wrong building? If I hadn't seen you through the windows of the rendezvous point, then..."

"Our apologies," Meth said.

"Ours?"

Meth nudged Arthur with his elbow. "Shut up."

Arthur impulsively walked back from the push, accidentally stepping over the dead goat — flies and maggots writhed out of the far past expired carcass. He quickly jumped off it, walking towards Meth and lightly punching him. "Let's get out of here."

"No need," Zoork said as he held his hands out. "Grab one."

Arthur gazed at Zoork and then at Meth. "Yeah, I rather not do this here. Stepping over a dead goat was enough for me, so count me out on a three-"

Meth dragged Arthur closer and shook his head. "Trust us. For Zoork to activate his powers, he needs you to touch him."

Arthur closed his eyes and grabbed Zoork's flaky hands. Meth followed and grabbed Zoork's free hand.

"Now, if you will, please tell me your full name?" Zoork asked.

"Me?" Arthur asked.

"No, the dead goat," Meth said. "Yes, you."

"Arthur Penfish."

Zoork nodded. "I would like to transfer Zoork, Arthur, and Meth to location B."

Arthur opened his eyes and turned his head, looking at Zoork and Meth as they clenched their eyes closed. "What are you guys-"

Arthur suddenly found himself bolting through a shifting tube of soft green slime. The slime flared all colors, each bounce changing the area's pigment, and each second he bounced across was a mile closer to wherever location B was. The tube altered its bouncy material into a rigid one — dirt ground. He stopped leaping and hit his face on the dirt, which was near many large green trees and prosperous and untamed plants — an area uninhabited by humans. Location B was a forest.

"Looks like we're here."

Meth patted his black hair and put on his half-broken maroon sunglasses as he clenched his eyes. "I hate your powers."

Arthur was on his knees, his palms on the floor as he vomited, and his face was pale with sweat coating him.

Meth lowered to the ground and patted Arthur on the back. "Everyone pukes at their first rodeo. You'll be fine."

"Yeah," Arthur said, vomiting onto Meth's shoes.

"Damn bastard," Meth said, kicking Arthur in the face and sending him flying.

Zoork closed his eyes, letting out a sigh of frustration as he focused on Meth and punched him in the head. "Stop fooling around and hurry your ass up."

"Alright, old man." Meth rubbed his head, looking up at Zoork and then down at Arthur. "Fish boy, stop puking and hurry. They definitely have a hero following us as we speak."

"I'm coming," Arthur said, wiping the vomit off his face with his ripped suit.

"Unless you want to be fish sticks, we need to get moving." Meth cringed at his own joke.

"I'm-" Arthur tried speaking, but he vomited again, this time fish flakes in his vomit.

"Damn kids," Zoork said, shaking his head as he continued walking. "Meth, what's the report with Trevor?"

"Uh," Meth said, helping Arthur up from the floor, but they quickly caught up to Zoork. Meth smiled and looked up in the sky as he pointed to Zoork. "Good news or bad news?"

Zoork stared at Meth, not answering him. He wasn't keen on dealing with Meth's antics.

"Okay, so good news! I found a promising prospect for us," he said, looking at Arthur. "His name is Arthur Penfish!"

"Fish?" Zoork asked.

"I'm a fish," Arthur said as he tilted his head and looked at Meth. "Now that I'm thinking about it, I don't recall telling you my name."

Meth placed his hand behind his neck and laughed, ignoring Arthur. "Bad news, Trevor is no longer attending us on this lovely planet that we call earth, plus we're probably getting hunted down as we speak. And-"

"There's more?" Zoork asked, his already aged features becoming older — his facial features wrinkled up.

"Nothing big at all," Meth said, placing his arms around Arthur and walking forward. "So yeah, the agency wants us to disband, but honestly, who cares? The weather is gorgeous today. Don't you agree, Arthur?"

"You mudbrain!" Zoork said, looking like he could cry at any second. "You risked all that for a fish?"

"Hey, hey, even fish have feelings. Don't they, Arthur?"

Arthur ignored Meth and looked at Zoork. "Meth told me he could help me put Lewis Bird into a fishbowl. Is that an oath he can uphold?"

"Of course, he told you something as absurd as putting it on, who I assume is a human. A fucking human into a fishbowl," Zoork said, narrowing his eyes and looking back at Meth. "I wish I could say I'm surprised. But I'm not."

"Hey, I tried warning him that putting a hero's son into a bowl isn't the wisest idea, so I asked him if he needed help. I'm just being a responsible citizen, nothing more."

Zoork ignored Meth. "Arthur, I'll be honest with you. We can maybe teach you some things... but putting..." He took a deep breath and tried to not look at Meth. "Putting a child into a fishbowl isn't something The Wanderers want to be known for, but we can give you the teaching to do that by yourself."

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Arthur's scales slowly regrew, and Meth noticed that, so he smiled and laughed. "Come on, don't be a stingy old shit! Let's give the boy his ambitions."

Zoork remained calm and examined Meth's movements and facial features, nodding his head. "Fine, you marble-brained baboon."

"He took that way better than I thought he would," Meth whispered into Arthur's ear as he pointed at Zoork. "That old man doesn't even let me have my own credit card. Can you believe that?"

Arthur pushed Meth off him as he ran faster towards Zoork. After realizing that Zoork was the more intellectually sound individual, he would rather hear what he had to say than whatever bullshit Meth had to offer. He looked at Zoork and narrowed his eyes at him. "How did you transport us here?"

Zoork seemed confused at first, but he closed his eyes and sighed. "Arthur, please tell me you know how to use Tuam?"

"I think I've heard about it before from Meth."

Despite learning all of experiment X's information, Arthur lacked knowledge of Tuam. The reason for such a lack of information had to have been something malicious and intentional, and obviously, it couldn't have been a plot hole, but who knows?

"Meth, you have ten minutes before I kill you. Why would you risk this all for a fish person?" Zoork asked, looking at Arthur. "No offense."

Arthur wasn't sure if he should respond, so he remained quiet.

"Give us one moment," Meth said as he and Zoork stopped and spoke to each other near a tree far from Arthur's hearing.

They both came back and continued walking.

"Okay, Arthur," Meth said, clapping his hands. "If you want to put Lewis in a fishbowl, you need to learn Tuam, so listen because shit will hit the fan when I explain."

Arthur nodded as he speed-walked, going somewhere...

"Tuam is what's inside us," Meth said, pointing to his chest. "And each individual has a set number of Tbars. Simply put, a Tbar is just a Tuam vein, like a vein that pumps blood. But a Tbar pumps Tuam."

"That's cool and all. But how does Tuam make it so I can teleport or even turn us invisible? Like your friend did?"

"Well, if I were to explain the complexities, we wouldn't have the time," Meth said, yawning. "But I'll share a few hints. So you at least understand what the hell Tuam entails. Hmm, where to get started?"

"Aif, Augmentation, and Tbar maximization," Zoork said.

"Oh yeah, great places to start," Meth said. "There are multiple ways to use Tuam, and these methods are known as Aif. It's a tad complicated, but simply, Aif can entail conjuring, manipulation, augmentation, and the list continues. But what's relevant is that we only have so many Tbars, meaning people can only adjust their Tuam to certain Aif before they run out of Tbars."

Arthur opened his mouth and blinked, his brain flooding with what were random and nonsensical words to him. He didn't understand a word that Meth spewed, at least not to the degree that he'd hoped to understand Tuam. "What?"

"Okay, let me back it up," he said, looking up into the sky. "Imagine you're playing a video game, and you only have a certain amount of points to put into your characters; strength, speed, and whatever. Tbars are the same way because learning a specific Aif skill takes up a Tbar, but learning a specific Aif would be a waste of a Tbar if you aren't proficient in it."

"I don't play video games..."

Meth rubbed his chin and shrugged. "That's fine because that was a shitty example. It's not a total waste to learn a new Aif, but you should rather stick to what you're naturally adept at. For you, it's effusion: the emission of raw Tuam. At least for now."

"Interesting... but how does that get me closer to my goal?"

"Fair enough," Meth said, touching Arthur's chest. "You have your mind set on something, but how could you possibly kill a hero if you don't know Tuam?"

"Who said anything about killing?"

"You'll have to kill if you want to get strong enough to even get to that boy. After all, he lives near the Agency headquarters."

Arthur's eyes widened as he clenched his fists, a red aura of Tuam leaking off him.

"Oh," Zoork said, looking back with a smile on his face. "Hey, Meth. We'll arrive at our destination soon, so wrap it up."

Arthur tilted his head, creating eye contact with Zoork, but he looked back at Meth.

"Fine, I'll simplify it like I'm talking to a goldfish!"

Arthur didn't show irritation as he stared at Meth, shaking his head ever so slightly with a slight look of disappointment.

"Don't tell me you're a goldfish out of all the fish. I thought you were a shark or something," Meth said, scratching his head. "Okay, hear me out. Yes, there are many Aif, but augmentation is a must among all Tuam users. Augmentation in simplicity allows one to protect themselves by enhancing their body with Tuam."

"Isn't there a book on this or something?"

"Well, there's multiple, but the most efficient will always be to learn from someone else."

Zoork stopped and held his hand. "We're here."

Meth stood tall, puffing out his chest as he neared Arthur. "Don't worry, I'll teach you later."

"So comforting..." Arthur massaged his temple, walking with Meth as they walked on a dirt path leading to a mound covered in swaying purple grass. At the end of the path was an entrance, a hole in the mound. The night didn't allow for much visibility, but the moon's light was bright enough to make out objects.

"Why couldn't we just teleport here?" Arthur asked, pressing his lips together.

"Because of the FQ rule," Zoork said, placing his fingers on his mouth and hushing Arthur. "I'll make sure that the joker next to you teaches you, but for now, silence."

Upon reaching the mound, five muscular purple wolves leaped out of the grass. A wolf with a missing eye neared the trio, his mouth didn't move, but somehow he spoke. "Hmm, why have you shown yourself, Wanderers? Especially you! You, the frivolous one, a bigoted deceiver. Scum of the Earth such as yourself should stop intervening on lands of peace."

All the wolves howled, their mouths pointed to the sky, then they lowered their heads and growled at Meth.

"You know me, I can't stop finding myself in places. I'm just too keen on exploring new places, people, and..." he stopped speaking and narrowed his eyes, looking at the wolf. "Okay, I'll cut to the chase. We need a place to sleep, only for the night. And I promise only this once."

The eyeless Alpha wolf laughed, bobbing his head up and down. "You can sleep out here! You can sleep near the trees! You can even sleep in your own shit if you'd like. You are what you sleep in!"

"That's not how the quote goes-" Meth said, but Zoork cut him off, slapping him on the back of his head. He rubbed his head and pointed to Arthur. "I have a companion, and he's basically a fish. I know you guys have a rule where you have to help animals, so just let us passage, and we'll be chilling?"

"Fish?" the Alpha wolf asked as he laughed, looking at Arthur. "You expect us to believe that man is a fish?"

The other wolves barked as they spoke.

"Sacrilege!"

"Traitors!"

"Liars!"

"Meth, oh Meth," the Alpha said, closing his eyes. "If that man isn't a fish, what shall we do with you? Shall we eat you alive for lying to us, not once, but THREE times?"

Meth raised his hands and laughed. "I know it seems like I'm lying, and trust me, that's coming from me. My lies are not stupid, but rather intelligent truths, or maybe even lies, but that's beside the point. My friend over here, he's a fish. A goldfish, to be exact!"

"Are you? Because if you aren't, we're not afraid to tear you alive."

"I am," Arthur said without any hesitation. He wasn't sure what Meth got him into, but he wasn't lying, so there wasn't any reason to be scared.

"Show them," Meth said, pointing with his head at the wolf as he awkwardly smiled. Arthur simply stared back at him. He smiled and eyed him as he whispered. "Show... them..."

Arthur tightened his facial muscles, gaping at his hands as he fiddled with them. Taking in deep inhales and exhales, he narrowed his eyes and tried focusing in order to help grow sales, but it wasn't working. He looked down at the floor, purposely avoiding eye contact with the wolf. "I can't get hard."

"What?" the wolf barked as he grew closer to Arthur. "Are you mocking us?"

"No, no," Arthur said, waving his hands in the air. "It's just that my skin can't get rock hard as it did before. Like it did in the tussle I had with Meth."

Meth shut his eyes and banged his fist onto his head. "Arthur, shut up. Please shut up!"

The other wolves began shouting.

"Vulgar!"

"Barbarous!"

"Ostentatious!"

They all barked at the trio, nearing them and surrounding them. The Alpha wolf pounced in the air, ready to bite as his mouth opened, his razor-sharp teeth shining against the night light.

Arthur's eyes widened as the wolf neared him, his fangs dripping saliva as they. To protect himself, Arthur held his arm in front of his face.

The wolf bit Arthur's arm, a red fluid oozing off — his aura. Like a light switch turned on, Arthur's presence became flipped, and deadly would be an understatement.

"I told you I'm a fish."

This time, Arthur was in control of his body. Animal instincts weren't a variable.

The wolf whimpered back, wagging his tail as blood dripped down his mouth. "My teeth are... broken."

Arthur's orange-scaled armor shined against the rays of the moonlight, a star amongst fish, a STARfish, no... a GOLDfish! His appearance was mesmerizing.

The wolves stood as tall as they could, growling at the trio. They howled in the air, different from before; this time, the howl was deep and short.

But the howl attracted a force far more potent than the Alpha. A wolf dashed from the top of the mound, jumping off it. "HOWL!"

A gust of air hit Arthur, pushing him back a few feet — his feet dragged against the mud and into the purple grass, almost knee high. He remained standing.

The wolf that attacked Arthur was next to the Alpha, but there was just a slight unease. The wolf that attacked Arthur wasn't a wolf but a human, no older than a teenager. He wore a leather skirt, and the rest of his body was bare.

The human rustled his long hair in the air, staring at Arthur as he neared Meth and Zoork, who stood still. The human waggled his butt, trying to mimic tail movement. He crawled towards the trio, executing his best wolf impression. "Woof, Woof, Woof."

Arthur pressed his lips together and looked at the furry impersonator, trying to not laugh. "As you can see, I'm a fish." His gills and scales faded away as he neared his group.

"Meth, I will allow you a safe haven just this once, but you've made me a fool today. Never forget that." The Alpha growled and turned around, walking into the passage. As much as he hated Meth, his people pledged to help any animal in need, and since Arthur was technically an animal, he had no choice but to assist. "Follow."

The other wolves and human-wolf got back into their positions, not following the Alpha.

The trio made their way into a dirt-ridden dwelling, a mud area, but that didn't matter, they needed to get inside this location because it was restricted for heroes to enter since the wolves had a pact with the agency, so whatever its condition was didn't really matter. Meth sought a place to rest for a day without hero interference, and the wolf mound was a perfect place for such a task. It gave them a night where Zoork could re-energize, so he could reuse his powers.

Despite the dwelling's primitive nature, it wasn't horrible, plus it allowed the trio ample rest. It didn't take long for the night to pass. The trio needed to act fast because whatever hero or thing they were hiding from would soon catch up if they didn't leave.