The Flood that Brought Trouble:Part Two

     Team A had started to swim off from the house and decided to split up. Harmony, the blue Acara, would look through Shenkuu. Markeene would follow her and report back to Hannah with their results while Harmony would continue the investigation. Lily and Joey, the blue Quiggle, decided to investigate as deep as possible to see if they could reach Maraqua and see if the flooding might have started from there. Finally, Ursula was to explore the general populace and help out wherever necessary but she gave up on that within the hour.

      Since the Creep house was on top of a large hill and it took about ten minutes to reach the main city, swimming took even longer. Markeene and Harmony couldn’t talk on their way to Shenkuu but found something odd when they reached the main city of Shenkuu: bubbles. There seemed to be giant bubbles around each of the buildings in Shenkuu and a majority of the homes. Harmony and Markeene looked at each other while Markeene pointed to the Shenkuu Lunar Temple. Harmony nodded and then started to swim towards the bubble that was surrounding the Lunar Temple. Markeene followed and as both reached the bubble, Harmony reached her paw inside and was immediately pulled in. Markeene grabbed onto her and was pulled in with her. They both slammed into the ground and were greeted by the old Gnorbu who ran the temple.

      “Welcome,” the wise Gnorbu greeted, “are you two ok?”

      Markeene and Harmony started to cough up water and Harmony responded, “Yeah. we’re fine. We’re more concerned about you. Are you ok?”

      The wise Gnorbu nodded. “Yes, everyone who came to my temple today has been staying here for safety. You two are the first to actually come here from the outside. What are the conditions outside of Shenkuu?”

      Markeene bowed to the wise Gnorbu and said, “I am sorry for being disrespectful sensei but we do not know. We are actually from Shenkuu and wanted to make sure everyone is safe. Did you see anything strange that happened from last night to right now?”

      The wise Gnorbu used his cane to point towards the water and said, “There was a strange rain storm last night. It seemed like the type of storm to stop after a while but it kept going and going. Eventually, I noticed the water levels start to rise and I opened my doors to anyone who could not get out of the storm and to home. We thought we were in danger until the water levels started to go around the temple instead of inside it. I’ve been feeding everyone but I’m running low. Do you have any idea what could be happening?”

      Markeene and Harmony shook their heads. “I’m sorry sensei but we’re just as clueless as you are. The water seemed to come directly to our doorstep and stop. We were hoping someone with magic skills could identify this phenomena. Do you know anything that may have caused a worldwide flood?” Markeene asked.

      The wise Gnorbu did not respond but instead, he yelled and fell to the ground. “Sir, what’s wrong?!” Harmony asked as she tried to pick him up.

      Markeene and Harmony turned around and shortly figured out what the old man was so scared of.

     ~~~

      Lily and Joey had the task of heading to Maraqua to see if they had finally snapped and wanted to have a revolution against the world. Joey didn’t mind swimming all the way to Maraqua but it was obvious that Lily was annoyed; not only was her little sister going to be a pirate captain for this crisis but Lily had to investigate in a land that was known for taking joy in sinking ships from Krawk Island. She had kind of hoped this was Maraqua’s fault so she would have a reason to fight.

      They passed over what should’ve been Moltara but was flooded with water. There was no light coming from the land so Lily and Joey assumed it had flooded and the city was probably evacuated. They didn’t want to investigate but both decided that, if there was time on the way back, they would make sure everyone was ok because they were on a mission and every minute they strayed off the mission was another minute they were putting everyone in danger. Even though Joey was not a very serious neopet, he cared more about helping others more than anything else and knew that he needed to take this more seriously.

      As they both dove into the ocean, Lily stopped in the mid-stroke. Why did the water pressure suddenly change? she thought to herself.

      She looked over to Joey who quickly reached out his tongue to grab her. Joey grabbed Lily with his tongue and swung her out of the way. As Lily was being pulled in the water, she turned around and saw a giant shark swimming past. The shark snapped forward, as if it was trying to grab her. Joey swam as fast as he could to get away and while getting away, Lily saw the shark open its mouth again to reveal a giant orb. The orb inside the shark’s mouth lit up and shined a bright light in front of its path, presumably looking for prey.

      Lily couldn’t put her finger on what this creature could be but before she could make a guess, the shark stared at her and Joey and started to swim towards them. Lily screamed, accidentally making herself not only lose all her pride as a pirate but most of the oxygen from her lungs. Last thing she saw before passing out was a maractite net encapsulating them and a different net encapsulating the shark.

     ~~~

     “Utility fish are back?” Markeene said quietly as a giant jellyfish passed by the temple.

      Harmony looked over to Markeene and asked, “What're utility fish and how do you know what they are but I don't?”

     “Only Chris, Hannah, and I remember utility fish. They're these old creatures that can transform into things like furniture, clothing, and trinkets but we fished them into retirement. Only people who actually bought utility fish sell them, no one can fish for them anymore but if they’re out in the ocean…”

     “What Markeene? What does this mean?”

     “It means this problem just got a lot bigger than a flood. Something horrible is happening and we need to stop it. We have to warn the rest of the family. Harmony, I’m gonna stay here and warn everyone but I need you to find the rest of the family and catch them up to speed,” Markeene ordered Harmony.

     Harmony nodded and jumped back into the water. Markeene turned to the wise Gnorbu and asked, “Do you have any weapons? I need to be able to protect myself in case these utility fish are hostile.”

     The wise Gnorbu got up and said, “I’m sorry but I’m a pacifist. I don’t carry any weapons or give them out. Are you going to be ok?”

     “Yeah, I’m trained. Why do you ask?”

     The wise Gnorbu pointed his staff to Markeene’s arm and said, “You’re turning grey.”

     ~~~

      Lily woke up to a maraquan bori and a pink koi pointing tridents at her while she was tied up and her head was in an air bubble. “What’s going on?!” she shouted.

      “Shut it pirate. We’re here to ask you the same thing since your friend won’t talk,” the koi said as he pointed the trident closer to Lily.

      “Friend...you mean the blue Quiggle? That’s my cousin!” Lily screamed.

      A maraquan aisha came into the room and threw Joey into the room with him tied up as well. He was unconscious but looked unharmed. “The prisoner said he didn’t know anything. Well, he said that in between sobbing,” the aisha revealed.

      “He doesn’t know anything because we were coming to see if this was your fault!” Lily explained. All three of the guards looked over to Lily in suspicion.

      “Our fault? You think we would contaminate our own water and release these utility fish? We’re at danger here too,” the bori said as he lowered his trident.

      “Contaminated? What do you mean by that? The water seemed fine when we swam here,” said Lily but as she concentrated on the water around her, she saw the water around her swirling with colors as if there was an oil spill.

      “The water is unstable and our citizens are suffering. Many maraquans aren’t maraquan anymore and have been painted different colors, including that wretched color you call pirate. It seems to be at random too so we cannot predict who is transforming and who isn’t. Do you have any idea why this might be happening?” the koi asked.

      “It’s probably a combination of the rainbow pool, petpet puddle, and the rainbow fountain flooding over. Maybe you’ll appreciate my color now!” Lily laughed.

      “If it’s flooding over, why is it that every other landmark on the surface is covered in air bubbles? Why is everyone else safe?” the bori asked, annoyed at Lily’s condescending tone.

      “Because this was planned,” said a familiar, strong voice.

     To be continued..