Chapter 5

Just ONE Bite!

Beneath the surface of a Parisian river, the red rat fought hard not to gasp in surprise and suck in water. She found herself scarcely a foot from rows of serrated teeth grinning at her. A great white shark?! Of all the creatures in all the waters, why did it have to be a great white shark?! To top it off, this was a freshwater river, not a salty ocean! What was a shark even doing here, and what was keeping him from going belly-up? Perhaps he had some means of mitigating the deadly effect of freshwater.

Her first instinct? Swim for your life! However, she quickly remembered that swimming was not in her repertoire. Great, just great!

Suddenly, Remy grabbed her and began dragging her to the surface. She had almost forgotten that he was there to help. Except … he was swimming way, way too slowly. She couldn't blame him. After all, his tiny limbs had to swim for two body weights. Luckily, Norway rats such as themselves were great at going without oxygen. However, the shark would more than likely get them before they reached the surface. She couldn't imagine any way for the situation to get worse.

"The name's Bruce!" the shark introduced. "And to my left and right are Anchor and Chum!"

"Hello!" greeted Anchor, a hammerhead.

"Hey, mate!" said Chum, a maco shark with a gold hook in his nostril.

A bubble escaped her mouth in a tiny, fearful squeak. There were three of them?! She hadn't noticed the others with Bruce's bulk blocking her view. Sure, they were smaller than he was, but more than big enough to snap up a rat. And what was with the friendly act? Were they toying with their prey? What a sick game, she thought.

"Oh! You're drowning, aren't you?" the great white exclaimed in concern. "Let ol' Brucie give you a fin."

With that, he began to push the rats towards the surface with his nose.

Yes, she mentally exclaimed! It seemed she'd misjudged the sharks. Then Bruce took a deep sniff of her perfume, his pupils dilated until they filled his eyes with black and a sinister grin crept across his face. Nevermind. That was one of the scariest things she had ever witnessed. She decided that she'd seen enough, pulled out a purple Fear Berry and hurled it at the shark. However, the water slowed it to a stop and it harmlessly floated in front of her. It seemed she was helpless.

Bruce's eyes returned to normal as he shook his head. "Nope, nope. Despite the fact that you smell like every wonderful thing I ever ate, I maintain my belief that fish are friends, not food."

"Hey, Bruce?" began Chum as he swam beside the bigger shark.

"Yeah?" answered the great white.

"That ain't a fish, is it?" the maco shark went on.

Bruce's eyes took on an ominous gleam as his pupils enlarged once again. "You know what, Chum? I think you might be onto something."

He spread his jaws and threw them towards the rats with ferocious vigour.

In that fraction of a second, the red rodent's brilliant brain kicked into hyperdrive as it tried to answer one question: How to survive this? Hurling berries was useless. The water created too much drag, slowing her pitching arm and the berries themselves. Berries were activated when broken by force. What could move quickly and forcefully through water? Something with low surface area, like her tail. She couldn't exactly throw a berry with her tail, but what if the distance between the berry and its point of impact was ... zero?

In the blink of an eye, she hurled a Blackberry. The water immediately stopped it in front of her - perfect! With expert accuracy (and a little luck), she whipped it with her tail and it activated.

Bruce's jaws clamped down, but they did not get far. The Blackberry had expanded and wedged between them. He writhed and swam about like a mad bull as he tried to dislodge the ball. She immediately knew that something was wrong: when he moved, she moved with him. Much to her horror, she discovered that her tail had fixed to the sticky Blackberry in his mouth. However, there was something still attached to her besides the Blackberry.

There was Remy.

Time seemed to freeze as she stared at him. With eyes gnashed shut, he held her paw with absolute resolve. She knew that he would never let go. Even with the smaller sharks dashing by and crashing into Bruce in a feeding frenzy, Remy would not let go. Even as the great white began to dive deeper and deeper into the ocean and the rodents' bodies begged for oxygen, he wold never, ever let go. The sad part was, she knew that he couldn't help her. What good would it do if they both drowned or got snapped up?

Remy's eyes shot open as he felt her release him. He tightened his grip, but her paw slipped until it disconnected from his. A rush of bubbles fled his mouth as he screamed and she was dragged into the murky depths without him.

Down ...

Down ...

Down went the red rat and the sharks.

Her lungs burned; vision blurred; mind fogged from the lack of oxygen. She closed her eyes as her brain formulated what she imagined to be its last thought. And what was that thought? STUPID, that's what it was in her opinion! She was wondering if Bruce's jaws had enough bite force to eventually chomp through the Blackberry! Honestly, why couldn't her genius mind think of something more worthwhile?

Her eyes shot open as her brain came alive.

Bruce's jaws created force. Force activated berries. She had jaws!

She reached into her bag, knowing the place of every berry by heart (at least 98% of the time). Upon pulling out a sky blue chemical sphere, she bit it. It expanded rapidly, pushing Bruce away and detaching her tail from his mouth as she slipped into its surface.

Once within the chemical sphere, it carried her up ...

Up ...

Up ...

Up ...

Meanwhile, Remy was right where she left him. His body was limp as he stared with empty eyes into the deep waters that had claimed the raspberry rat. His lungs cried for air but his heart cried for her.

Hold on ... what was that?

Something blue had come into view far beneath him. He squinted at it. It appeared to be some kind of ... ball? Whatever it was, it was rising towards him quite quickly. Behind it were the sharks, led by Bruce who had finally managed to get the Blackberry out of his maw. Remy grunted as the blue ball crashed into him and lifted him to the surface. Finally, it burst from the water and floated into the air. Seconds later, the sharks leaped after it, but it was already beyond their reach.

"JUST ONE BITE!" Bruce demanded, fruitlessly flinging himself from the river over and over.

After coughing out half a lung of water, Remy examined the surface of the ball on which he found himself. So, it wasn't just a ball, it was a bubble. Within its surface was a second layer - another bubble, and within that inner bubble was a red rat racked in a coughing fit.

"You're ALIVE!" Remy exclaimed ecstatically.

After one more violent cough, she gave him a thumbs up. "Yup. Still kickin'."

He glanced about at the bubble beneath him. "What is this thing?"

"It's an Up Berry," she explained. "Kinda like a hot air balloon, but more advanced."

"How did you manage to blow it up underwater?" he asked.

"It converted the surrounding water into the helium that fills the outer layer, and the breathable air that fills the inner layer," she explained. "Well, I should say most of the inner layer's air is breathable. There's some helium in here too, but it collects at the top of the bubble so we don't have to breathe it."

Remy was no professor of chemistry, but he knew enough to know that water was composed of hydrogen and oxygen - not all the stuff needed to create breathable air, far less helium.

"I didn't think chemistry worked like that," Remy commented.

"Most people don't," she explained. "For what ever reason, my knack for chemistry goes beyond what is conventionally thought to be possible. The Up Berry transforms water and air into the necessary substances on the atomic level."

"Wait a minute, is that 'transmutation'?" asked Remy. "Are you some kind of alchemist?"

She paused, considering the terminology. "I can see why you'd ask that, but I wouldn't use that word. Let's just say I'm freakishly good at what I do. If you peeked inside my mind, you'd probably go crazy ... a fate which at times I fear has already befallen me."

He smiled and shook his head at her. "You really are amazing, and that's not just the mind control talking."

"Ah, mind convincing!" she reminded.

"Oh, right, right!" he agreed. "Wait a minute I just realised something! I have no idea what your name is!"

She hesitated. "Uh, my name is ..."

"Mine," came a distant voice.

"Your name is 'Mine'?" asked Remy.

She cocked her head. "What? No! What made you think that?"

"You said 'mine', didn't you?" he inquired.

She shook her head.

"Mine!" came another yell, sounding closer than the first.

"Hey! This time I heard it too!" she exclaimed. "But where's it coming fr-?"

She stopped herself as she and Remy simultaneously gazed into the distance. A massive cloud of seagulls was swarming towards them. One word was on each of the birds' beaks, and they chanted it over and over and over:

"Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine!"

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