The Pool, Saturday All Day

[fh-goombaland.livejournal.com]

Whether they had snuck in through the pipes, or simply flickered into existence over night was hard to tell - they certainly weren't going to tell you. (Mostly because at least half of them had no mouths to speak of, and the other half had, quite literally, the brains of a goldfish.)

The pool, once such a peaceful part of the dorms, had been transformed. Now, winged Cheep-Cheeps leapt up above the water, and Bloobers slipped silently underwater. Liquid splashed across the tiles surrounding the pool, disturbed by the commotion.

This was not a good day to go for a swim...

[ for all your splashy fighting needs! baddies can be modded, or go for the npc post! ]

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[willbethenight.livejournal.com]

Bruce decided that starting off his morning exercises with a run out in town today was probably a bad idea, so he made his way down to the pool. He wasn't wearing his utility belt, no. Or much of anything for that matter.

So he walked over to the edge of the pool and dove in.

[endsthegame]

The morning swim was a big part of Ender's routine, and no Fandom-shaking event could change that. He had his towel slung over his shoulder as he came into the room, and sat down at the edge of the pool, feet dipping into the water so he could get used to the temperature.

And then something slid past just under his feet. He jerked his legs out of the water.

Second later, a yellow fish with wings lept up at him.

He reacted with well-honed military instincts, and struck out at it with his towel, intending to hit it as hard as he possibly could so it would be out of commission for good. But it was faster than he had anticipated, and so he didn't have time to let go of his towel before it struck.

Seconds later, he was standing in the lobby in his swim trunks. Oops.

[fh-goombaland.livejournal.com]

Wasn't it a great day for a swim? The school of Cheep-Cheeps, whose synchronized swimming lesson for the morning had been unexpectedly cancelled by a sudden case of barely-dressed teenager, had certainly thought so before Bruce's ever-so-rude splashdown.

Now, they could be petty, horrible little fish, and take out their frustrations on Bruce by swarming at him all at once. Or they could be the better aquatic creature here, take it with a drop of saltwater, and just relocate to another end of the pool.

Unfortunately for Bruce, Cheep-Cheeps could be pretty petty, and there were about three of them, all rushing his way at once.

[willbethenight.livejournal.com]

Bruce spotted the fish rushing at him. Realizing he didn't have nearly the upward momentum he'd need to attempt some kind of crazy jump out of the water, he turned downward and started swimming toward the bottom of the pool to buy him a couple seconds. As he did so, he reached into the pocket of his swim trunks and pulled out the key to the lock he used to lock up his clothes in the locker room.

Look, it was his only weapon right now, okay?

[fh-goombaland.livejournal.com]

Well, it wasn't nearly as effective as a flower that could make you spit fireballs even underwater, but it was probably more effective than trying to sock a canary-goldfish crossbreed in the nose. Beak. Thing.

Two of the Cheep-Cheeps paused to look at the key, somewhat quizzically. Oh, sure, they'd seen keys before, but usually they were way bigger, and had an impressive etching of the mighty lord Bowser on one end. That one looked kind of... teeny.

The other Cheep-Cheep, however, was feeling none of the curiosity and confusion that the other two were, and simply re-doubled his efforts to catch up to Bruce, flapping his finny little wings to help him gain some speed.

[willbethenight.livejournal.com]

Bruce turned on the Cheep-Cheep, bringing a hand to his mouth as some kind of short, makeshift blowpipe, took the key in his mouth, and shot it out through his hand.

Look, obviously there wasn't going to be a ton of force used, but with the speed of the Cheep-Cheep approaching the key and a combination of comic book and video game physics playing off each other, Bruce figured it was worth a shot.

Not that he knew about the comic book and video game part. He just knew that there were fish with huge eyes so why the hell not.

[fh-goombaland.livejournal.com]

Foul play in the pool! Locker key to the eye! Lifeguard! Lifeguard! Someone blow the whistle on that play!

The two more cautious of the Cheep-Cheeps watched their buddy jerk about for a moment, and then sink to the bottom of the pool. Now who were they going to go over their routine with? It was on.

Their little fishbird eyebrows things furrowed angrily, they gave their tails a few warm-up swooshes in place, before they both barrelled toward Bruce, intent to concuss at the front of their tiny fishy minds.

[willbethenight.livejournal.com]

It worked. Not bad.

Bruce continued swimming as fast as he could toward the bottom of the pool. His lungs were starting to crave more air after his little blowgun move, but he still had enough to try something crazy when he finally hit the floor in the deep end. He crouched on the floor, paddling up with his hands to make sure he could stay in that position while he waited for the Cheep-Cheeps to get just a little bit closer.

The pool wasn't that deep, after all, and he had very strong leg muscles. He was totally planning to leap out of the pool, surface tension of water be damned.

[fh-goombaland.livejournal.com]

And closer the little fish came, with murder set in their little fishy eyes! Or, if not murder, at least an inconvenient shrinkage problem or a trip back to the start of the level.

One of those.

Closer! Closer! Almost there!

[willbethenight.livejournal.com]

Bruce pushed off when he felt it would be too tough for the Cheep-Cheeps to turn to chase him, aiming up and toward the wall of the pool so that once he broke the surface, he could grab the edge and help pull himself clear of the water. Which was what he did, rolling onto the floor of the pool area.

And watching to see if the Cheep-Cheeps jumped out after him.

[fh-goombaland.livejournal.com]

It took them a moment, but a few seconds after Bruce had made his way to safety, the two fish broke the water's surface, fluttering their wings in one of the most graceful aerial displays ever known. One of the fish managed to right itself to land back in the water as soon as it realized that its target was once again on dry land. The other wasn't quite as fortunate, overshooting and landing on the floor, proceeding to flop about, not unlike a fish out of water.

Darn you, Bruce.

But the final laugh was on you. Your locker key was still at the bottom of the pool, buddy.

[willbethenight.livejournal.com]

Bruce got up from the ground, walked over to the flopping fish, and hopped on it.

He still lost his key, though. Oh well.