Chapter 4:

How to Care for Your Fire-Breathing Turtle

The next day, Kiri hopped onto her computer and logged into Shelled . The first thing she got was a front page decorated with several moving turtles GIFs and a cute chibi girl holding an even cuter cartoon turtle with big blue eyes and an adorable smile. Her ears were greeted with a cheerful tune. She clicked on a link that read "Taking care of your Turtle". The link led her to a page filled with questions such as the turtle's name, gender, size, current weight, life stage and breed. For each one, Kiri typed in "Gamera", "male", "fourteen inches", "ninety-six pounds", "one day since hatching" and "Common Snapping Turtle".

Once she was done, she was greeted a page with a photo of a Snapping Turtle at the top as well as several facts about the breed as well as items needed for taking care of it. After reading the page over, she printed the list.

After breakfast, Kiri retrieved her list and her birthday money. "Yukari, I'm heading out, make sure Gamera doesn't get into trouble okay." she told her cousin.

Yukari rose an eyebrow and looked at the baby turtle. "I really doubt he's gonna go anywhere."

Kiri frowned at her cousin and handed her a big blue bucket filled with water. "He breathes fire, remember?"

Yukari nodded as Kiri went out. She then turned her attention to Gamera. "I got my eye on you, turtle." she warned. The baby turtle just sat still and stared into space, blinking only on occasions.

Kiri walked downstairs, yen tucked in her pocket as she headed for the door. "Kiri, where you headed off to?" Kanna asked as she dealt with customers.

"I've gotta go spend that money Uncle Shusuke gave me before it burns a hole in my pocket."

Kanna gave her niece a puzzled look before turning her attention to a customer looking at the donut rack. Without waiting for her aunt to reply, Kiri walked out the door and set off.

After a few miles of walking, Kiri had arrived at her destination: the Kadokawa Pet Store. As she stepped in, she found herself looking upon rows upon rows of pet toys, treats and other conveniences for a pet. She took the time to look at her list. First up: a large, ten gallon fish tank. (Though with how big Gamera was compared to a normal Snapping Turtle hatchling, she would probably have to go with a fifty-five gallon tank.) Kiri grabbed a shopping cart and set off on her items quest.

Back at the Genbu, Yukari sat crosslegged on her bed with the bucket of water right next to it just in case, staring at the stagnant turtle on her cousin's desk. She waited for Gamera to do something else. Well, something aside from breathing fire and being a rather large turtle hatchling. Something along the lines of transform into a giant monster or teleport or anything a normal turtle would never be caught doing.

Next up on Kiri's list, once she scratched off the fish tank on accord of it in her cart, was a heating lamp. With that, she walked off in search of it.

Yukari continued staring at the baby turtle. Just then, her stomach growled. With that, she slowly got up from her bed, her eyes never once leaving Gamera. "I'm going to go get something to eat, okay? So you just stay there. Alright? You stay. Don't do anything funny, turtle." she snarled, giving him a "I'm watching you" gesture as she walked towards the stairs to get something to eat.

Meanwhile, back at the pet store, Kiri had gotten done with her shopping as she waited in line with three people ahead of her at the check-out section over looking her list. "Fish tank: check. Heating lamp: check. Filtration system: check. Sand and rocks: check and check." she murmered as the line decreased.

Yukari, came back up the stairs to see Gamera, still in his place on the desk. With a plate full of food such as four left over, unsauced chicken wings cooked in a microwave, a healthy scoop of rice and two sticks of celery, she slowly plopped herself back on the bed and began to slowly eat her lunch, starting with one of her celery with a crunchy bite and letting its salty, watery taste wash over her tongue.

With a bag full of items from the pet store in one arm, Kiri looked over the money she had left, which as now down to Ұ1000. "Huh, whaddya know." she muttered. She then heard her stomach growl. She noticed the Suzaku burger restaurant next door and decided to go there.

Yukari had just dug her teeth into one of her chicken wings. Even though it was soggy from the microwave, she could still taste the salty, peppery crust as it cooked in the pan. She looked up and noticed Gamera looking at her, more specifically, her chicken. "You're hungry too, aren't you?" she asked.

As if in answer, Gamera made a swallowing motion. With a sigh, Yukari tore off a piece of chicken, walked over to the turtle and placed the piece of meat down in front of the baby turtle, which he happily devoured. Once he was done, he turned his attention to the plate resting on Yukari's bed. Yukari sighed, "No, Gamera. This is my lunch."

Gamera made the swallowing motion again, prompting the teenager to groan. "Gamera, no. You can wait until Kiri comes back."

Gamera made the motion a third time causing Yukari to stamp her bare foot on the floor. "Gamera! What part of 'no' do you fail to underst- what are you doing?"

Upon arriving at the Genbu, popping pieces of sriracha mustard off her fingers from the Suzaku Phoenix Burger. She was then noticed by Kanna.

"Oh, Kiri. Something's going on with Yukari upstairs could you go check please?"

Kiri, puzzled, carried her items upstairs and slipped off her shoes as she neared her room, the sounds of screaming entering her ears as well as... rocket jets?

Curious, Kiri opened the door just in time to see Yukari holding onto Gamera, as he flew around

on what looked like jet streams coming from his hindquarters.