The Shark Titan punched out of the lake and arced through the air towards the shore. The sands of the beach crunched beneath his feet as he followed his landing through into a full speed charge. His hand held the mermaid queen by the neck, and he cranked his arm back behind him as he ran. With a roar, he threw the queen with all of his strength.
The first and second trees exploded into splinters upon impact, the queen punching straight through as if the gnarled trunks were merely parchment. She hit the third tree with a thud, but it still buckled beneath her, and ultimately her limp body slammed against the fourth tree -- leaving behind a crater in the bark as she fell to the ground.
She woke enough to catch herself on her hands. Her tail hadn't had a chance to change into legs, and flapped helplessly against the ground. The Shark Titan barreled through the debris behind her, hoisted off her off the ground by her neck without halting his charge and slammed her into the tree at full speed. He held her against the splintering trunk by her neck and opened his mouth wide to roar, placing his rows of razor teeth inches from her face.
"Real sharks don't roar," she sputtered.
The captain growled and pulled her away from the tree, and then repeatedly slammed her against it until the trunk gave way and crumbled. The tree twisted and fell to the side as he spun and threw her hard into the ground. He stood over her for a moment, heaving with each breath, and then picked her up again and once more threw her into the ground with all of his force.
She looked up at him with a defiant smile.
"Surrender!" he shouted, stomping her tail into the ground and grinding the bones apart.
She screamed in agony, but leaned forward and reached out to claw at his leg.
He placed all of his weight on her tail, stepped forward to place his other heel against her throat and stomped her back down into the ground, "I'll eat you!"
"Will you?" she croaked, using both her hands and all of her strength to hold back the pressure against her throat.
The shark titan threw his head back and roared so loud it echoed across the island and the lake beyond. He stepped off her and hoisted her off the ground, pinning her arms on either side with his massive hands as he opened his jaw wide and brought her head between his teeth.
He paused, his deep, warm breath washing across her face as one final warning.
"Fine!" she gasped.
He pulled her away from his jaws and threw her into the ground once more.
"Call off your warriors!" the captain ordered.
After a few labored breaths, the queen began to sing. It was croaky and labored at first, but soon settled into a calm melody that effortlessly traveled through the trees and permeated the island and its cove. The words she sang were of an ancient language, and the song lasted only a moment, but it carried her orders to all of her warriors -- stand down, the battle is lost.
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"Got it," Victoria said as she finally managed to kick a chain loose from the pulley.
Nelson sighed in relief, "they won't be getting the maw open now."
A second later, melodic singing echoed through the hull of the ship.
"What is that?" someone asked.
"Cover your ears!" Nelson shouted.
Despite their best efforts, the song still invaded their ears and reverberated through their bodies -- bouncing around in their skull like water sloshing in a jug. The headache was agonizing, and their vision began to blur. Just as consciousness threatened to fade, the song finished abruptly.
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"What the fuck was what?" Victoria asked.
"Mermaid song," Nelson groaned, "nasty shit."
"Why haven't they used it sooner? Why did it stop so fast?" Victoria asked.
Nelson slowly shook his head and waved her off, "stop asking why things aren't worse. Inform the first mate of our progress."
Victoria nodded and rapidly flew up through the decks towards until she rose out of the quarterdeck and found the first mate at the helm.
"We've disabled the maw mechanism, ma'am," she reported quickly.
"Good work, but I'm afraid it was for nothing," Meredith replied.
"For nothing?" concern crossed Victoria's face.
The first mate simply pointed beyond the railing of the ship. Victoria drifted over to look down over the side, where mermaids were dropping off the hull and returning to the water. She glanced upwards, and saw them leaping from the sails and masts and diving into the cove.
"Did we do it?" she asked, "did we win?"
"I believe so," the first mate sighed, allowing herself the first moment of peace since the battle began.
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Iris awoke with a gasp and blipped across the room. Agony shot through her abdomen and she collapsed to the ground with a thud.
"Whoa," Titus said, suddenly rising from his seat to crouch beside her, "it's okay, you're safe."
Iris groaned and rolled over onto her back, "what happened?"
Titus looked at her with worry, "you came closer to death than ever before."
"My ability --" she paused to wince from pain, "it didn't activate. It should have saved me."
"Worry about that later, right now you need to rest," Titus helped her to her feet and half-carried her back to the bed, where she collapsed into the mattress and sighed.
"Where am I?"
"The infirmary."
"This bed is nice," she said slowly as she drifted back to sleep.
She awoke again some time later, this time much calmer. The infirmary was dark, lit only a single glow stone lantern in the corner and the faint moonlight through a single porthole -- the rest were covered. With a grunt, she pushed herself up to lean back against the wall at the head of the bed, and looked around. There were two other pirates in beds just like hers, both thoroughly bandaged and apparently unconscious. Titus sat on a stool in the corner, his arms crossed and his head hanging low as he slept.
Iris cautiously stretched, pausing when the pain became too intense. Bandages wrapped all the way around her abdomen, which she found confusing. A tentative poke against the bandages shot pain through her entire torso, revealing that her wounds were still far from fully healed. She wondered why that was, but didn't want to wake Titus just to ask him. Instead, she looked around for Abby, finding the bottomless bag in the bed beside her.
"How're you doing, Abby?" she whispered.
Quiet, affirmative tones emanated from the bag.
"Good," she smiled faintly and nodded, "can you hand me my journal?"
The bag slipped open and a tentacle rose from the void, wrapped around her adventure journal. Iris took it and cracked it open, waiting for the fluttering pages to settle where they'd like. It wasn't easy to read in the dim light, but with some effort she could make out the words.
IRIS ORION
Hero Rank, Level 11
Experience Points: 9021 / 9420
Progress to next level: 95.76%
"Seriously?" she complained with a groan.
The only other change she found to her journal was the addition of a new discovered trait in the Special Use of her blip ability.
Special Use : Emergency Exit
Cooldown : 30 days
Mana cost : All
Description:
In the event of imminent death, lapse into the void behind reality and reappear an extreme distance away. Activates automatically, location cannot be chosen.
Discovered trait : deadly attacks must be anticipated in order for this Special Use to activate.
"Good to know," she sighed, closing the book and tossing it aside on the bed.
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Captain Clement stood in his quarters, seething -- before him was shattered glass and the scattered contents of the fish tank which had contained his prisoner.
"How did this happen?" he asked.
"We were pushed below deck at one point," Meredith answered, "the mermaids may have gained access to your quarters during that time."
"The door wasn't damaged," he observed.
"No, captain. And it was locked the entire time."
The captain thought for a moment, "how long do you reckon a man turned into a fish can live outside of water?"
"Maybe as long as a regular fish? Maybe longer? I really don't know."
The captain turned and panned his glare across the room.
"Get me that ghost girl," he said, "I want every crack of this ship searched for that little rat Gerald."