Challenge: The main character is reimagined as a merperson in a dystopian future.
Ashen water stretched into the distance, a choking mix of slag and pollution. Tsuna filtered some of the water through his gills, feeling the feeble burn in his chest increase slightly with the intake.
They would have to turn around again; the water in this area was too polluted to be safe. Mama would be disappointed. She truly believed that there were still clean waters in this world.
'Tenth, should we do a surface check?' Hayato asked, his tail flipping nervously. He was restless in the heavily polluted water, and kept touching Tsuna's shoulder anxiously, as if to assure himself that his boss was still breathing.
Tsuna nodded, propelling himself upwards. Hayato darted next to him, sharp jerky movements that allowed more for reflexes than grace. His once pearly white and warm red tail was a uniform dull brownish color, and little flakes of dying scales crumbled off in uneven groups.
In contrast, a steady stream of greenish gray scales followed Tsuna, a product of his smoother movements. Though it wasn't a thick stream, and they were mostly older scales, his tail still felt raw and sore where they had flaked off.
Hayato broke the surface first, quickly followed by Tsuna. Tsuna shut his gill flaps tight to prevent accidental inhalation of air and breathed deeply through his nose, not liking the sudden increase in breaths he needed to take. The air was marginally less polluted than other places he had stayed, and Tsuna was surprised to see a tiny boat chugging through the slapping waves. It was dull brown, which was probably why neither of the mer had seen it from below.
The Rainbow Mare was scrawled in peeling letters along the side, in what was probably once a shiny gold but was now mostly a muddy tan against dark brown. A small cabin dominated most of the deck, and the hull looked just big enough to have a below-deck area.
The deck was deserted, but muffled humming emanated from within the cabin. A strange machine was bolted to the deck, sucking in air and then blowing it out for no discernable reason. A disgusting brown goop was dripping from a seam on the lower part, sliding down the metal and being caught in a rusted bucket. Another machine, bolted to the outer wall of the cabin, consisted of a large, repurposed funnel and a mishmash of mismatched pipes. Whatever purpose it had was mystifying to Tsuna, who could see no apparent reason for such a thing.
"Do we attack it, Tenth?" Tsuna realized that Hayato was looking at him, waiting for a command.
He hesitated. "No, not with just the two of us. It's too dangerous. Maybe if Reborn was here." Tsuna was really glad Reborn wasn't with them. The Volitans Lionfish was well-known among the school for his merciless, bloody tactics that often involved dragging a human overboard and injecting them with enough venom to down a Great White and dragging the body down until the pressure became too much and their skulls collapsed. It was a painful and terrifying way to die that made Tsuna sick to his stomach. If Reborn hadn't protected his school so viciously that Tsuna had seen him willingly dive into a bloom of jellyfish to save an elderly clownfish, Tsuna would long have banished Reborn from the school. As it was, the lionfish toed a fine line.
As they prepared to dive under, a tall human emerged on deck with a strange metal tool. Tsuna caught a glimpse of his startled face as he dove, sliding his nostrils shut and opening his gills to a welcoming, if choking, inhale of water.
-3-
Reborn was a firm believer in the ideal "no pain, no gain". It was for this reason that Tsuna found himself nursing several minor stings by an underwater volcano while Hayato fluttered around him indecisively. While Reborn was, in theory, the best teacher for Tsuna due to his status of the strongest, his tactics were brutal.
Tsuna sincerely hoped that Reborn never spawned. It would be Hell to raise those demons.
Deciding that his wounds were as purified as they were going to get, and resigning himself to a couple hours of swelling and pain, Tsuna backpedaled out of the stream of hot water. He immediately missed the cleaner water, despite the burning of his gills from the heat. Either way, breathing hurt.
Tsuna let the current carry him up, Hayato circling around him protectively, for the slightly cleaner and less painful surface air. The feeling of suffocation was prevalent above water, but his gills were hurting a lot and they needed a break.
They really should have been more careful.
-3-
Byakuran eyed his catch cheerfully. A small Moon Wrasse and a medium sized Longnose Hawkfish. They had put up quite a fight, but their lungs were weak and their gills damaged by pollution. The upper halves were never eaten anyway (Yuni-chan thought it was too much like eating a human) and the tails were thick with muscle, so the comparative thinness of their upper bodies didn't matter.
The Millefoire would eat well tonight.
Because I've been so lax in writing lately, and keep hitting writers' block, I've decided to do a bunch of little challenges for myself using a au generator from Springhole dot net. This is unpolished, unedited, and written in the space of a school day, so it won't be great, but I like getting input. Let me know if you have any constructive criticism for this story!