The endless expanse of ocean stretched in every direction, a shimmering blue canvas painted with dancing sunbeams that filtered in from above. Beneath the surface, a world of alien beauty and terror thrived, each creature more bizarre than the last.

Big Blue's massive form drifted lazily just beneath the surface, his whale-like body easily twice the size of any cetacean ever recorded. Bioluminescent patterns pulsed along his flanks, a dazzling light show that would've made Vegas proud. Fins that looked more like living solar panels soaked up the filtered sunlight, converting it to raw energy with quiet efficiency.

Perched atop this floating island of blubber and badassery was Doc, a crustacean that loosely resembled a chunky lobster. About the size of a dolphin, her exoskeleton shimmered with colors that shouldn't exist in nature, while her appendages resembled Swiss Army knives sculpted from chitin and spite.

"Hold still, you big baby," Doc grumbled, her voice a mix of exasperation and amusement. She yanked out a fang the size of a kitchen knife from Big Blue's hide, promptly spitting a wad of mucus that gelled upon contact with the water. With practiced movements, she smeared the wound liberally with the nasty looking goo. The gel hissed and bubbled, sealing the injury in seconds.

Big Blue's eye, large enough to use as a hot tub, swiveled to peer at his smaller companion. "Ow! Watch it, you walking appetizer," he rumbled, his voice sending vibrations through the water that'd register on seismographs. "That almost tickled."

Doc snorted, a sound that shouldn't be possible underwater. "Oh please, you didn't even notice when that thing took a chunk out of you. Some apex predator you are."

"I'll have you know," Big Blue huffed, his bioluminescent patterns flashing indignantly, "that my sensibilities are renowned throughout the seven seas. Why, just the other day, a boat full of tourists complimented me on my impeccable manners."

"Right," Doc drawled, her antennae twitching sarcastically. "And I suppose they invited you to their next sushi social, too?"

As they bantered, a school of fish that looked like the unholy offspring of tuna and disco balls swam by, their scales flashing like strobe lights. Neither Big Blue nor Doc batted an eye; such sights were common in their new aquatic hellscape.

"Any word from Lurky?" Doc asked, yanking out another fang and applying her miracle spit.

Big Blue's patterns shifted in the whale equivalent of a shrug. "Last ping put 'em about three miles down and diving deeper. You know how Lurky gets on these exploration binges."

Doc's eyestalks swiveled, peering into the abyss below. The darkness seemed to swallow light itself, promising secrets and horrors in equal measure. "Still can't believe how deep that slippery bastard can go. Remember when we thought the kiddie pool near the islands was deep?"

"Hah!" Big Blue's laugh sent a shockwave through the water, probably deafening fish for miles. "Yeah, but to be fair we were all a lot smaller a month ago."

To prove his point, Big Blue lazily flicked one of their many flukes, creating a current that sent Doc tumbling ass over teakettle. She righted herself with a series of rapid, hinging movements, fixing Big Blue with a glare that could curdle seawater.

"Show-off," she muttered, but there was no real heat in her words. "Just 'cause you can juggle submarines doesn't mean you gotta rub it in."

Big Blue's patterns flashed in a smug grin. "Aw, don't be jelly, Doc. Besides, I thought you liked my blubber. More real estate for your OCD cleaning, right? Don't you get xp from that still?"

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Doc was about to unleash a retort that'd make a sailor blush when her antennae went rigid. "Hey, Moby Dickhead. You feel that?"

Big Blue's playful demeanor vanished immediately. His massive form tensed, sending ripples through the water. "Yeah. Vibrations in the deep. Something's stirring down there."

They fell silent, enhanced senses stretching out into the vast blue void. Through the Pack System, they felt Lurky's presence, a faint electric tingle in the crushing depths. But beneath that familiar buzz was something else. Something that made even Big Blue's blubber crawl.

Faint sonar pings echoed through the water, barely perceptible even to their heightened senses. These weren't Lurky's usual whistles—no, these vibrations came from something else. Something big.

"You feeling that?" Doc muttered, her antennae twitching nervously. "Those pings...that's a long way away."

Big Blue's bioluminescent patterns flickered in acknowledgment. "Yeah, and they're making my sonar sense go haywire. Whatever's down there, it's too big for Lurky to handle if we're feeling it up here. God dammit."

The tension hung in the water between them. Big Blue's own sonar could be felt for miles around, and he was a leviathan in his own right. For something to produce pings that powerful, from that depth...

"How big are we talking?" Doc asked, though her nervous twitching hinted she wasn't sure she wanted the answer.

Big Blue's massive eye swiveled, peering into the abyss. "Not sure," he rumbled.

"You don't think..." Doc began, her voice barely a whisper.

"That our favorite eel's gone and poked something that should've stayed un-poked? With our luck? Abso-fucking-lutely," Big Blue finished, his tone a mix of 'oh shit' and 'hell yeah'.

Right on cue, a rumble shook the ocean, making the water feel like jello in an earthquake. Panic spread through the sea life faster than gossip at a knitting circle. Schools of fish scattered, and even a pod of transformed dolphins – sporting metallic skin and elongated, weaponized snouts – noped the hell out of the immediate area.

"Well," Doc said, clinging to Big Blue's hide as the tremors intensified, "guess the vacation's over. Time to bail out our troublemaker?"

Big Blue's bioluminescent patterns formed a wicked grin that'd give a great white shark nightmares. "You kidding? And miss all the fun? Batten down the hatches, Doc. We're going deep sea diving."

Doc's eyes glowed briefly, her exoskeleton thickening and hardening as she activated an Ability. She dug her appendages deeper into Big Blue's hide, bracing for one hell of a ride.

With a flex of his titanic body, Big Blue plunged into the abyss. Water rushed past them, the pressure increasing with every fathom. Doc clung on, her reinforced shell creaking but holding as they descended into a realm where nightmares were considered the friendly neighbors.

The deeper they went, the weirder shit got. Bioluminescent creatures lit up the darkness like a rave in Hades' basement. Jellyfish with tentacles crackling with bio-electricity drifted by. Squid that bent light around them like living cloaking devices darted through the gloom. Schools of fish glowed with an otherworldly brilliance that drew the eye a little too much, making it hard to look away.

"You know," Doc shouted over the rush of water, "when I signed on for this fishing gig, I didn't expect to be diving into the belly of the ocean to fight monsters!"

Big Blue's laugh boomed through the water like undersea thunder. "Really? That was first on my wishlist! Right after 'grow big enough to use boats as bath toys'!"

As they approached the source of the disturbance, Big Blue tensed. "Hang on to your shell, Doc. I'm gonna ping this sucker."

Before Doc could protest, Big Blue unleashed a blast of sonar that made depth charges look like pop rocks. The shockwave was visible, a ripple of pure force that turned smaller sea life into instant sushi.

The returning ping painted a picture in Big Blue's mind that made even his massive form shudder. "Oh boy," he muttered, "Lurky's really opened a can of worms this time. And by worms, I mean that literally."

"The tasty kind or the bitey kind?” Doc asked in a tone that suggested she already knew the answer.

"Extra bitey!” Big Blue responded with a chuckle, hammering his tail into the water behind them as he accelerated to ramming speed. "It's always extra bitey!”