Chapter 54
The Roquefort Bay Aquarium was a sprawling network of hallways and wide-open viewing rooms designed to make the visitor feel they had entered an underwater world of magic and delight. Ashley and Shortfin Mako strolled slowly past a gigantic glass wall that separated them from a family of bat rays that looked as if they were flying through a starfield. Shortfin walked over toward the rays and put one hand against the glass pane.
“They are very happy here. Apparently, this family of rays fled from their home when it was inundated with plastic and garbage.”
“That’s so awful!” Ashley was outraged but not surprised. “Do you think if everyone could talk to plants, or fish or animals, that we would still do the things we do to them?”
“I’m not sure.” Shortfin answered with a somber weight to her words, “Look what we do to each other.”
Ashley had no worthy response, so she wisely stayed silent.
A few minutes later, a well-dressed, self-assured woman in a black pantsuit approached them with her hand outstretched. “Hello, Shortfin! And, you must be Ashbury. My name is Katrina Wallace, and I’m very excited to meet with the two of you.”
“Thank you,” Shortfin responded as she shook Katrina’s hand. “But, I assure you, it is our pleasure.”
“Yes,” Ashley agreed. “I mean, what you have been able to do with The Oceanic Preservation Foundation is incredible. If I can achieve for the forests a fraction of what you have been able to do for aquatic wildlife…” she realized she didn’t have the second half of the statement thought out, so Ash just blurted out, “You’re… You’re amazing!”
Ms. Wallace laughed, “Thank you, Ashbury. It’s true. I am lucky to have had the successes at the foundation that I have had, yet it seems like a drop in the bucket. No matter what we get done, we lack the resources for the necessary impact to reverse the damage that humanity has already done.”
“Funny you mention resources,” Shortfin cut in, “because we have a little proposal to run by you.”
“Have you been watching the Top Seed competition?” Ashley asked Katherine.
“I have,” she answered.
“Are you up to speed?”
“I am,” the Foundation president seemed to sense where the line of questioning was headed.
“Well, the next challenge has already begun, even though it’s not airing live. We have been tasked with throwing a new Herald a party for their debut,” she nodded over at Shortfin. “We chose Shortfin Mako to celebrate. And in the spirit of her philanthropy, we wanted to partner with a charitable organization on this event to raise money for a good cause.”
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Ashley paused to allow Shortfin Mako to deliver the final offer. “We’d like The Oceanic Preservation Foundation to be that partner, and were hoping you would introduce me before my speech at the event this Saturday.”
Katherine was taken aback. “I would be honored! The work you have already done is so admirable. I am happy you thought of us.”
“The honor is ours,” Ashley fawned. “Your organization inspired me to study environmental studies in college before I took a year off for this.” She waved her arms around, pointing out all the cameras.
“Are there any other details to be ironed out?” Katherine asked. “I can imagine, due to the circumstances, that your timeline is truncated.”
Ashley laughed. “You could say that. We have a lead on a venue on a beach in Florida that Shortfin recently sponsored for a cleanup effort. But wherever we end up holding it, there will be instant transport offered to you and all the VIPs from OPF.” She looked around while she was talking, taking in the splendor of the Roquefort Bay Aquarium. “Wouldn’t it be awesome if we could hold the party here? This place would look amazing on camera. “Under the Sea,” but for real.”
“Right? I already checked,” Shortfin said. “They have an event booked for that afternoon, and the turnaround time wouldn’t work.”
“Darn,” Ashley swore. “Oh well, I’m sure Evergreen will nail down the venue today.”
***
“...and that is why I wanted to leave you this message. I want to be able to trust you because you are such an important part of me.”
The day of promo production had gone relatively smoothly, with all of the Challengers filing through the makeshift studio to film their spots. The spots were all pretty standard: videos to post to their own OnyxSocial accounts, letting the Top Seed fans know about the event on Saturday, and linking to Shortfin Mako’s new profile. Hopefully, these would drive people to follow her as well, since that was the ultimate goal of this week’s challenge. After they had wrapped on the group’s videos, Joel had helped Ken record his little message for his alter ego.
Now, Samurai Tortoise sat on the floor, watching the video that Ken had recorded for him. Joel watched from a chair in the corner of the dorm room Ken shared with Jax. The mystical tortoise enjoyed his time out and about, but was accustomed to being released only in times of intense pressure or action. Sitting there watching Ken’s video diary was not his idea of a good time. “Yo, duuude,” he said to Joel in his usual laid-back surfer speak. “Is this all, man? I mean, I think it’s rad Ken wants to talk and all, but I’m used to more of an adrenaline kick, you know?”
“Uh, I think so?” Joel did not know. “Do you want to record your promo for Shortfin? Or maybe a response for Ken?” he asked the giant green warrior.
Tortoise sighed like a child who was just asked to make their bed. “I guess so. But, this room is so constraining. Is there a snowboarding park around here? Maybe I could film mine on the slopes.”
“Um. It’s summer.”
“Gnarly. Well, we could try surfing! I would look great on a longboard, dude.”
“So, Ohio isn’t exactly close to any oceans. There might be a simulated wave around here somewhere, though.” Joel shrugged as he pulled his Onyx Phone out of his pocket and started to search for a water park or man-made wave somewhere around Eden.
“Naw, man! It’s all good. I could just jump off The Spire again and film my little vid in mid-air!”
“Actually, we got into big trouble the last time you did that. We’ve been banned from “Extreme Sports” in or around the towers,” Joel spoke through his teeth apologetically. “But there has to be something fun around here, or at least a cool view to have in the background.”
“Righteous! I did enjoy shelling down the mountain that one time."
“I assure you there will be no shelling today,” Joel spoke with authority, but with Samurai Tortoise, he wasn’t entirely sure he could live up to the promise. He was a bit of a wild card, to say the least.