So here is another chapter.
Thanks to all my reviewers, you guys give me inspiration.
-h2o-
The girls and Lewis are gathered in Cleo's room because Cleo's oldest and favourite fish just died.
"I guess he was pretty old, but it's still such a shock when it happens. Sorry, I try to be brave."
Emma tries to comfort Cleo.
"You don't have to, not at a time like this."
"All the great times to two of us have got together. I can't believe there over." Lewis sits next to his girlfriend and hugs her. "Poor Pluto. He was such a good fish."
"How?" Is the only comment Rikki can give. "Like it was just a fish."
"He was loyal, he was honest."
"Did he do tricks?"
"No of course not."
"Did he … I don't know, what do fish do?"
"The same things we do, but in water."
"Sorry, just asking. So what are we doing? Recycling or flushing?"
"Neither."
Cleo gets up and goes to her bathroom. Lewis stands up and follows Cleo into the bathroom.
"What did I do?"
"You know how much time she puts in those fish. She really loves them."
"Hello, fish have no long term memory. They completely forget who she is every three seconds. That is not a basis for a relationship."
"If it's not about you, you're not interested. You can be real self-centred sometimes."
"That is so not true."
"Oh yeah, what was the fish's name?"
"… Bubbles?" Emma gives her a sceptical look. "I give up."
"Exactly."
In the meantime, Lewis has convinced Cleo to come out of the bathroom. She is still crying. Rikki can't stand how she putted Cleo even further down. So she leaves Emma and Lewis to do the consoling.
Rikki doesn't know what to do. Maybe Emma is right and she is more busy with herself then with Cleo. But that can't be right because she saves people on a daily basis. But she had to admit to herself that she likes the kick of the slaying more then the actual saving, that's more Cleo and Emma's part. Rikki is so deep in thought that she doesn't notice Zane coming closer. He puts his hands before her eyes.
"Guess who?"
Rikki pulls his hands of.
"I'm not interested, when are you going to get that?"
She walks away.
"Wow, who has bit you in the ass?"
"Pluto, I mean, it's none of you business."
"Isn't that one of Cleo's fish?"
"Great, does everyone knows that, except for me?"
"No, but I was the one that bought that fish for her, for her eight birthday. What has happened?"
"He died."
"So it's just a fish."
"Right, that was exactly my thinking. But …"
"The others don't share your opinion."
"No, they don't. And now everyone is mad at me for not getting the picture."
"Cheer her up."
"How do I have to do that?"
"Buy her a new one."
"Great idea, thanks."
Without realising what she is doing, she gives Zane a kiss on the cheek and leaves. She doesn't even hear Zane yelling after her. "If you need some more advice, I'm standby."
Emma, Lewis and Cleo are standing on the dock behind Cleo's house.
"Should we wait for Rikki?"
"She might be a while."
Cleo opens the box, where Pluto is lying in.
"Well Pluto, I guess this is it. I just want to say thanks, thanks for being such a great companion, a confident. I could tell you anything. Thanks for being a great … fish. And now, return to the deep." She pulls Pluto out of the box and drops him in the water. He keeps floating on the surface. "Somehow I thought he'd sink. Is it alright if we have a minute of silence?"
"Sure."
"Of course it is."
Rikki walks up to them during the minute of silence.
"Hey guys, don't start without me."
"We've already finished."
"Ohh … I got you something. Now, I know it can't be easy losing your pet Pluto like that, so I got you this." She shows her the goldfish she bought. "Now, it's not an exact match but the guy at the pet shop said he is as much fun to talk to. And I thought you could call him Pluto II in honour."
"Right, thanks."
Cleo leaves without the fish, Lewis is quick to follow and takes her hand.
"Now what?"
"Cleo collects salt water fish, not fresh water."
Cleo is back alone and trying to comfort her fish.
"I know, you miss him as much as I do, don't you?"
There is a knock on the door.
"Who is it?"
"The idiot."
"Come in."
Rikki comes in and sits down next to Cleo.
"Cleo, look. I'm sorry. I didn't know about the salt water thing. I should have but I didn't. What can I say?"
"That's okay, I know you're not good with the whole empathy thing."
"Yeah well, it's … you think?"
"Oh yeah."
"You mean I'm self-centred?"
"No, it's just that other people feelings are not on your radar. But I'm not complaining. Sometimes I think I'm too worried about other people feelings."
"Yeah maybe."
"But I know you mean well Rikki, that's the main thing. Right guys?" She asks her fish. "They think so too."
"Oh, I'm glad the fish approve, I'll try to be worthy."
"There you go again."
Rikki is walking back to Cleo, she just freshly caught a beautiful saltwater fish. A guy whistles at her. "Nice."
"A real original."
"Sorry, it's just such a beautiful specimen."
"Ooh, right."
"So where did you get it?"
"I know a spot."
"It's just a work for the Marine Park. Part of my job is to breed rare fish like that. My name is Tommy Brace by the way."
"Rikki."
"You wouldn't let us have that specimen would you?"
"Sorry, it has someone else his name on it."
"A shame, I would have paid you a good price for it."
"Pay?"
Cleo looks at her new fish.
"Thank you so much Rikki, he is so cool. He is a little quieter than Pluto, but he'll settle in."
"Who wants a noisy fish anyway?"
"It's quite a rare specimen."
"He is gorgeous."
"Yep, nothing but the best."
"You must have gone to so much trouble. You can only get this fish from license breeders. He must have cost you heaps."
"Really, so how did you effort him?"
"Easily, with a new job I got."
"You got a job?"
"Yep."
"Where?"
"Somewhere."
"I can't believe you spend all that money on me."
"Plenty more where that came from."
The next morning Rikki is returns to Tommy with another fish.
"Right on time. So what do you got for me?"
She shows him a blue fish.
"Any good?"
"I reckon."
"Pretty rare, hey?"
"Very, you know what else? This colour suits your eyes."
"You reckon?"
"Yeah definitely, so where did you get it? Hey, I just want to know if it is not in an endangered habitat."
"It's not, you'll have to trust me."
He gives her a bunch of money.
"The marine park is really serious about his breeding program. They got a pretty healthy budget."
"So you would be interested in more?"
"Sure. What other species could you get your hands on?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, the Marine Park is certainly interested in animals who have special abilities."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Such as camouflaging or high speed or very strong animals."
"I'll see what I can find."
Cleo is on her way to Emma. She just heard some frustrating news.
"Hey Cleo, what's up?"
"Emma, I think I found out what our new undertaking is."
"You haven't seen a monster or something right?"
"No, but I've heard that a lot of animals have been disappearing, so what shall we do about it?"
"Cleo, that's really nothing you should worry about, animals disappear all the time."
"But …"
"There is probably some non-magical explanation for that."
The doorbell rings.
Rikki lets the girls see her new wardrobe, it has the same colour as the fish.
"I like the look."
"Did you win the lottery?"
"No, I told you, I got a new job. And I decided to experiment."
"Well, you look great. I never seen you in that colour before and it really suits you."
"Yeah, I think It matches my eyes."
They come over.
"It does."
"Thanks. Hey, care to join me for some retail experiment ladies?"
"Well I'm broke."
"And I don't get paid till next week."
"No worries, my treat."
"What are we waiting for?"
After a fatiguing morning of shopping, the girls decide to take a drink at the juice net café.
"Okay, so I'm thinking next trip, we need a whole new look."
"Next trip? My feet are sore."
"You have to block out the pain. This is shopping Cleo."
"Fine, first I need a rest and a drink."
"Alright my treat."
Cleo notices a new fish in the tank.
"Wow, look. They're beautiful."
"Yeah cute eyes." Rikki says without looking, but when she looks again she notices that it is the same fish she caught that morning. "I know this fish."
"Yeah, what kind is it?"
"No, I know this fish."
"Personally?"
A couple of minutes later, Wilfred is giving the fish something to eat.
"Love the new fish, Wilfred. Where did you get them?"
"They are great, aren't they? Got a real bargain to. Some guy was selling them down at the marina. Paid half at what you paid in the shops."
"Interesting."
"Go to buy some? He might be still there, but you got to be quick."
"No, I'm good."
She walks back over to the others and Cleo just got off the phone.
"Well?"
"No Tommy Brace."
"You sure?"
"My supervisor knows everyone at the marine park and there is no one with that name that works there."
"Ooh, this is bad. He told me that…"
"He told you what?"
"Doesn't matter."
"And you have no way of contacting him?"
"No."
"But Rikki, he was your boss, what if you wanted to ask him about…"
"It was very casual arrangement, alright?"
"Maybe we shouldn't be wearing these clothes."
"What do you mean?"
"Well I'm not sure if I feel comfortable of wearing them in public anymore."
"Yeah, isn't there some law about proceeding in crime?"
"Guys, I bought your clothes with good money. They're not stolen."
"You're right."
"We need to sort this out."
The girls go back to Cleo's house and Lewis arrives almost at the same time.
"Hey, where were you? I have been looking all over for you guys."
He gives Cleo a kiss on the cheek.
"We were shopping."
"Why were you looking for us?"
"Well Cleo asked me to do some research about the animals that are disappearing and…"
"What animals?"
"Cleo, we talked about it and I thought we decided to drop the subject."
"Hey guys, what's with the animals?"
"Yeah, but I thought it wouldn't be that bad if Lewis did some research."
"Hello, am I invisible. What animals?"
"Cleo found out that some animals went missing."
"So."
"That was my thought exactly."
"Guys, can I maybe tell you what I found out? The animals that have been disappearing are found back."
"I told you."
"You didn't let me finish again. They were found back but they were dead."
"What, all of them?"
"Most of them, yeah."
"Right, well why don't Rikki and Cleo figure out what happened to them and then me and Lewis will help to solve Rikki's problem."
Rikki and Cleo leave.
"What's wrong with Rikki?"
Lewis gets of the phone when Rikki and Cleo walk in.
"I tried every T. Brace in the book and the only Tommy is an seventy year old with a plastic hip."
"That's not him."
"He did only get it a couple of weeks ago."
"Not him."
"You sure he is not your man?"
"Trust me."
"You must be feeling pretty stupid right now. Okay let's recap what we know: you've been supplying some strange fish to a guy who's been selling them on the pier."
"And that's illegal."
"Gee, guys, you think that would be why he used a false name?"
They were back at Cleo's room, but Rikki had locked herself up in Cleo's bathroom, Emma is trying to get her out of it.
"So Cleo, maybe you can tell us what happened to the animals."
"Okay, well as you already said, they were all death. But they had all some strange mark bites."
"So maybe it's just an animal eating them."
"No, the strange thing is that the were not eaten from, just bitten three times on different places."
"That sounds supernatural to me."
"I guess. C'mon Rikki, we need to sort this out."
She comes out.
"What?"
"I figured there was something going on."
"What do you mean?"
"With the amount you were spending? How much do you get paid at the Marine Park, Cleo?"
"9.75 an hour."
"And how much were you getting paid?"
"Not much more then that… alright, yeah, it was a bit more then that. Fine okay, it was a few hundred dollars more then that. But I was working hard. Hey you two were happy enough when I spend it out on you. You could have said something but no."
"Rikki, didn't you ever think there was something off about him? Not even once?"
"Well, what can I say, he didn't look bad."
"He was doing business at the end of an boat, giving big amounts of cash, hello?"
"We don't have all your advanced experience Emma."
Rikki had enough of it, she was leaving.
She didn't really had much luck with that, because the others already caught up with her on the stairs.
"Okay, I'm sorry, at least you found out before you got into any real trouble."
"Yeah and you did quite make a good deal of money about it." The girls all look unbelievingly at Lewis. "That's me being supportive."
"This isn't about the money, he strung me along. Made me feel like I was some dumb kid."
"Well, he probably did this loads of times."
"I'm sure you're not the first one Rikki."
"Well, I'm the one that is getting even."
Rikki was ready to leave, but Emma stopped her, knowing what she was up to.
"And the best way do that is to tell the police."
"Ordinarily yes but in a case like this they require quite a deal of evidence for conviction."
"I don't need evidence. This guy is a creep and I'm going to do something about it."
"Like what."
"Just watch."
"Rikki wait, what about the animals?"
"You'll be fine without me."
She leaves before the others get another chance to stop her.
"We have to got after her."
Cleo and Emma catch up with Rikki, but before they get to her, Rikki already jumped in the water, following Tommy Brace's boat. They soon jump in the water after her.
Rikki was almost immediately caught and Tommy started questioning her. But all Rikki saw was water all over the place.
"I sense an accident waiting to happen."
"Yeah maybe, but not to me."
"Yes to you."
The water explodes and everybody runs out. Rikki gets up from her chair but suddenly Tommy stands behind her, laughing. He pushes her with inhuman force and she falls in a couple of boxes.
"How did you that to the water, that's what I would like to know."
"Who are you?"
"I think a better question would be, what am I?"
He comes over to Rikki and she tries to get away but he is too quick.
"What do you want from me?"
"To know what you are."
"I'm an ordinary girl."
"Wrong answer."
He hits her in the face and she falls again to the ground
"Look we can do this the easy way or the hard way, you can choose. But they only thing I want to know is if your human or not."
"Yes I am." He gets ready to hit her again. "But I'm also a mermaid." He relaxes again and bends down next to her, he is back the charming Tommy she met.
"Interesting. Now I'm going to tell you what I am. I am an Bestiari Demon. And I get my powers by sucking the life force out of animals."
"So the animals that were disappearing, that was you?"
"Oh yes, but see the thing is, I can survive from ordinary animals but I'm not getting stronger of them, because I already have their abilities. And it's getting harder for me to get stronger, because I already drank from so many animals. But a mermaid, that is something I never tasted before. So tell me, are you as delicious as you look?"
And with that his face changes into a mixture of different animals, but the only thing Rikki could see where the big teeth coming her way. She could only do one thing and that was screaming.
Emma and Cleo finally got to the place when they hear someone screaming. "Rikki." They say at the same time. They run into the little house and find a creature biting into Rikki's arm.
"Get away from her, now."
He stops and turns around. He turns back into Tommy.
"Well, well, what do we have here? Let's try to use this new power I got."
He created another water explosion with his hand. Cleo was so busy to try and hold the water in the air that she didn't notice him leaving. A couple of minutes later she was done putting the water back in the bucket.
"Where did Rikki go?"
"Oh no, she wouldn't go after him again, would she?"
They run back out and see a glimpse of Rikki's tail disappearing.
"Come on."
The girls catch Rikki when she is waiting for Tommy Brace on the beach.
"Rikki, we have to get out of here, before he comes back."
"No, I started it and I will also finish it."
"But Rikki …"
"Hey Emma."
They turn around and see Byron coming towards them.
"Get him out of here."
Emma goes towards him.
"Hey Byron."
Tommy Brace thought he lost the mermaids when he reappeared on to the beach.
"I guess you haven't copied all my powers yet, as I see no tail and I was quicker here then you."
"No you're right, I still have to finish the job." He turns around laughing but is dissatisfied when he sees two mermaids waiting for him. He quickly regains his poise. "So you couldn't handle me alone, could you?"
"C'mon Rikki, let's show him what real mermaids are made of."
"No Cleo, I already said it, this is my fight."
"Rikki, you are not alone in this alright, when are you going to realise that?"
"Alright then. Let's get even."
Emma sees the girls ready to begin the battle. Byron hears a yell.
"What was that?"
Byron is ready to look around, but Emma stops him.
"Probably the wind. What were we talking about again?"
"Are you sure that was the wind?"
"Yeah."
They hear another yell.
"Alright I want to know what that is."
"Byron, no stop."
"What?"
"I have to…"
She comes closer to him and kisses him.
In the meanwhile Rikki has thought up a plan.
"Alright, let's do this right. Cleo, get him covered in water."
And so Cleo does.
"Alright, boil him."
"It won't have any effect, he has my power."
"But only mermaids are immune to it and he doesn't has a tail yet, so he isn't mermaid, right?"
"Right."
Rikki starts laughing and starts to boil the water he is in. A few seconds later he turns to smoke.
Emma sees the treat is gone and stops kissing Byron. She laughs nervously.
"I'm sorry about that, I don't know what you might think of me now."
"Finally."
And he starts kissing her again, after a moment of hesitation Emma starts kissing him back.