So this is a chapter that I have been planning for almost a year to be honest. I was going to wait a little further down the line, but I had the chapter planned to the point where I was finally pleased with it and decided to go ahead and get it out of the way. I just hope you all like it as much as I do.
So please enjoy.
The truck pulled down a side road in the forest as it made it's way towards a large lake not too far from the town of Nowhere. Behind the wheel sat Courage with Avery sitting right next to him. It still weirded her out that Courage was able to drive the truck comfortably and she admitted that it made her a little nervous at times. But she really wanted to do this due to the possibility that it might come in handy again someday and Courage was the only one she could trust with this secret. But most especially, she didn't want a repeat of almost getting snagged by the evil Black Puddle Queen. So she needed to practice and this lake was the closest place where she could do so without exposure.
Courage pulled off of the main road and the lake came into view through the trees. The shore wasn't too far from the road so he was able to park in the grass under the shade of some trees. After he shut off the engine, Avery stepped out and looked out over the glistening water of the lake. The bracelet on her wrist began pulsating in anticipation, it knew what she was planning and was eager for it.
The lake itself was a rather large one and was mostly hidden from the world due to the forest it sat at the edge of. It was mostly open with a few picnic areas here and there along the shores. There were even a few docks at some shorelines for boat usage. But for them, this spot was the perfect place where she could enter the water unnoticed.
Courage stepped out of the truck as well, carrying a basket of food with him. He wasn't planning to go into the water and was staying on shore, so he brought some snacks and a puzzle with him to keep him occupied while she practiced. He took the blanket from the top of the basket and smoothed it out on the ground for him to sit.
Avery smiled at the little dogs antics and walked closer to the water, the urge to jump in being great right about now. But she wanted to wait until Courage was settled and comfortable first. She scanned the lake from left to right, only a couple of other people were here and they were out of the line of sight for almost all of them. Few, if any, of them would notice what she would be doing.
She looked back at Courage as he as he sat on the blanket, tied a bib around his neck and pulled a lettuce and jelly sandwich out of the basket.
She kneeled down to his level as she rubbed the top of his head and said, "Thanks for bringing me out here boy. You going to be okay here sitting by yourself?"
Courage took a bite out of his sandwich and nodded with an, "Mm-hmm," before pulling another sandwich out of the basket and offering it to her. She shook her head and gently pushed it back to him.
"I appreciate the offer boy, but no thanks. Last thing I need to do is eat something right before going for a swim," she said.
Courage merely shrugged and popped the remains of his first sandwich into his mouth. She chuckled and kissed him on the forehead making him smile warmly. Avery turned away from him and walked over to the shoreline. She took a few deep breaths as her excitement grew and the bracelet pulsated even faster. Avery looked around to make sure that she and Courage were alone and then, with a deep breath, dove straight into the water.
The water blinded and dulled the sound around her for but a second. But with a sudden flash, she released her held in breath and found herself breathing easily in the water as gills began filtering the oxygen out of the water. She opened her eyes and after they adjusted, she looked down to see her purple mermaid tail and her blue seashell bikini adorning her with her hair billowing around her head. After smiling broadly, she swam back up to the surface and looked back over at Courage.
Courage looked at her as she broke the surface and let out a, "Yay!" when he saw her.
She smiled at him and said, "I'm going to swim out into deeper water. You going to be ok here by yourself?"
Courage merely nodded and she smiled as she submerged and went out into the deeper areas of the lake. What she didn't notice was a shadow moving around near the lake bed, looking up at her.
It took Avery at least an hour of work, but soon she was able to get some basic control of her movements under the water. She could move forward and even turn around a little easer now than when she had first dove into the water. She really wanted to focus on her speed as well, though that was a little hard when there were fish getting in your way and she didn't want to swim too close to the surface, lest she be spotted by curious onlookers. Besides, speed was probably the best thing to practice when she was still working on basic movements and maneuvers.
For now, she had to settle with swimming at moderate speeds as she tried to glide through the water. Instead it was more like a swift paddle through the water as she wasn't moving her tail enough to get her up to speed. But with a bit more practice, she was sure that she'd eventually get it. After all, who's to say they couldn't come out another day and try some more?
For now, she was more than happy to swim gently through the water. She felt incredibly free as she swam past fish. Fish that seemed to swim away from her in terror every time she approached them. She had to admit, it was a little disheartening to see fish swimming away from someone who was essentially half fish right now. Guess the human part of her scared them just enough.
Oh well.
She merely shrugged them off and continued swimming through the lake. Every now and then she was able to accomplish another maneuver in the water, be it either unintentional or because she had practiced it enough. Either way, it excited her to know she was getting something done properly. All she wanted though was to be able to do all the cool things that mermaids could do in story books, movies and cartoons. But since a lot of that was fictional, she wasn't sure if a lot of that was possible for her to. But she could at least try to get as close to it as possible.
After spending so long under the water, she decided to swim up to the surface for a bit and get some sun. She swam up slowly and carefully, using only her tail to propel her up figuring that practicing with just her tailfin would help her out a lot. As she broke the surface, she looked up to see that the sun had drifted into the afternoon position. It had been around noon when they had first arrived and judging by the location of the sun, she'd been swimming for nearly a couple of hours now at least.
She looked back at where Courage was and could see that the little dog was now curled up on the blanket asleep. Poor guy must have been getting bored just sitting there.
"Where did the time go?" she asked herself as she accidently flopped her tail on the surface of the water.
"Time goes somewhere?" came a tiny voice from just behind her.
Avery froze at the sound of the voice and carefully turned her head around. She hadn't noticed it when she broke the water, but she had surfaced right near a dock and to her shock, a little girl sat on the dock watching her. It was bad enough that Avery was now interacting with this kid given her being not fond of kids, but now she was wondering the odds were that this kid had seen her secret.
(AN: I honestly have no design idea for this little girl so please go with whatever you see in your head)
She stared at the child and the child stared right back at her.
Avery decided to break the silence and waved to the little girl and said, "Hi. Can I help you?"
The little girl smiled and asked, "Whatcha doing?"
Avery was mentally screaming inside her head, but kept it to herself. Just because she didn't want to interact with kids didn't mean she wanted to lash out at them. Instead she just internally sighed and answered.
"Just... out for a swim," Avery answered.
The girl nodded and said, "Having fun?"
Avery shrugged and said, "I guess. You need something kiddo?"
The little girl nodded and said, "Are there more mermaids here?"
Avery felt her blood run cold at the mention of that. Internally she began begging for the bracelet to turn her back to normal, but the thing wouldn't do anything. Seeing no way out, she knew that she had to keep talking with this kid.
Avery let out a nervous chuckle and said, "Mermaid? What makes you think I'm a mermaid? They're make believe kid."
The little girl frowned at her and said, "You have to be. I saw your tail when you came up."
The cat was out of the bag and there was no other way around it. Avery now had to address this to her. Otherwise the kid would press the issue more and more and would probably tell someone about. Unlikely she would be believed, but that was a risk that Avery couldn't take.
Avery smiled nervously and said, "You saw that?"
The girl nodded.
Avery continued smiling and said, "Well... yes... I am. But not all the time. You see, sometimes I can become a person like you and leave the water."
"Like Ariel?" the girl asked.
Avery again sighed inside her mind, but still nodded and said, "Kinda. The difference being is that I can become one at will and for as long as I want. That's why most people never see us. And most who do, see us by accident."
"Ooh," the child said as her eyes lit up. "Are they everywhere?"
Avery now began to smile a little more genuinely. This girl may have been asking a ton of questions, but strangely enough, Avery wasn't feeling too annoyed by her. Sure she was wanting her to stop with the many questions, but instead found this girl kinda adorable in how she was so curious. Even if her responses weren't honest, Avery didn't mind answering them if it meant giving the child some satisfaction.
Avery shrugged and said, "They might be. Anyone you pass every day could be one. There might even be more wandering about the lake here. Maybe even... your parents."
The little girl gasped and said, "My mommy and daddy could be mermaids?"
"Merfolk," Avery corrected. "And they could be. But I wouldn't recommend asking them about it. We need to keep ourselves hidden, otherwise bad things could happen to us. Do you want bad things to happen to us?"
The child frowned and shook her head.
"No, that'd be terrible," she answered.
Avery nodded and said, "Then lets keep this our little secret. Don't tell anyone I was here because I don't want anything bad happening to me and i know you don't want anything bad happening to me. Got it?"
The child nodded and Avery swam up to the dock and held her hand out to the girl with her pinkie finger extended.
"Pinkie swear?" she asked.
The girl nodded and took Avery's pinkie finger with her own.
"What do you say?" Avery asked.
"I swear to never tell anyone that mermaids are real," she said.
Avery smiled and the two released each other's pinkie fingers. It was then that they heard someone calling out a girl's name. The little girl looked over to where the voice came from and they saw someone approaching the dock. Avery began dunking her head under the water to keep herself from being seen. Only the top half remained above the water.
"That's my daddy, I gotta go. Bye Miss Mermaid," the girl said to her and then ran off.
She went to the man and the two talked for a moment before they began walking away. She took one look at where Avery was sitting in the water and gave her a wave before walking off with her father. Avery couldn't help but smile as she watched them leave hand in hand. Reminded her a lot of what she and her father had been like when she was little. Memories that could never be erased.
As the child vanished from sight, Avery pushed away from the dock and resubmerged under the water.
After spending a little more time practicing, Avery decided to spend the rest of the time here just having fun swimming under the water. She was simply having so much fun being able to swim beneath the surface and not having to worry about drowning.
After a while of this, she began feeling a little drained and could feel her eyelids beginning to droop. Thinking that now might be the right time to head out, she swam back up to the surface and looked over to where she had left Courage. She saw that the little guy was still curled up on the blanket he had spread out earlier and that he was still sound asleep. She certainly didn't want to wake the little guy up and knowing him, he needed his rest. Not wanting to bother him, she went back under the water and swam back down to the lake bed.
She found a spot where the sun was shining down and was far enough under the water to where she couldn't be easily seen.
She yawned and said, "Maybe a nap could do me some good. I'm sure Courage won't mind if I have one myself. Besides, when will I get to do this again?"
She looked at the bracelet and said, "And you behave while I'm asleep. I don't need to drown while I'm out."
She got no response from the bracelet and hoped that that was a good sign. She swam down to the sunlit spot and curled up in the sunlight, feeling refreshed from resting under the sunlit water. Resting her head in her arms, she closed her eyes and felt sleep overtake her.
She was out so quickly that she didn't notice that someone was watching her from the shadows nearby as they smiled sinisterly.
After a while, Avery awoke from her nap and looked up to see that the sun was no longer shining down on her and was now far across the sky.
"Jeez, how long was I asleep?" she asked herself with a yawn.
It had to be late afternoon at this point and Avery figured that she had been out here long enough. If she didn't get back to Courage soon and have them pack up for home, they wouldn't get back to the farm before dark and her aunt (and possibly uncle) would begin to worry about her. So she pulled herself up and stretched her arms as she prepared to swim back up to the surface.
But just as she began to swim upwards, something grabbed her by the tail and she was roughly pulled back down to the lake bed. As she tried pulling herself away and reascend, two black clothed arms wrapped around her torso and pulled her tight against whatever was holding her.
"HEY! Let go!" Avery hollered and managed to wrestle herself free and turned herself around to face her attacker.
Her eyes went wide when she saw who had attacked her. If the black dress hadn't tipped her off as to who was attacking her, the purple hair and magenta eyes was sure to tip her off.
"You!" Avery hollered as she stared back at the Queen of the Black Puddle.
The queen grinned sinisterly at her, revealing her sharp teeth making Avery shudder at the mere thought of what she could do to her.
"Hello child. We meet again," she said in her sinister voice.
Avery tapped down some of her fear and gave her a defiant look and said, "What do you want? My uncle isn't here."
The queen chuckled and said, "Your Uncle Eustace is inconsequential to me now. I have fed since then. What I want now... is YOU."
Avery swam a little away from her and said, "Me? What do you want with me? Revenge?"
The queen chuckled, came closer to her and said, "Don't worry your little head about that. If you come with me, this will be easier for you. Resist and I'll make it much more complex. Either way, you WILL be coming with me."
She held her hand out to Avery and said, "What do you say?"
Avery stared at the queen's hand. She certainly had no intention of going with the queen. She was curious as to what the queen wanted with her, but after seeing what she was capable of the last time that they had met, she figured that she'd be better off not knowing what she intended to do with her.
"Well?" the queen asked.
Avery looked at the queen and then back at her hand. Deciding that she wanted nothing to do with whatever the queen was planning for her, Avery scowled at the queen, turned herself swiftly in the water and smacked the queen's hand away with her tail fin and swam off.
Instead of getting mad, the queen merely smiled and said, "No matter. I love a chase anyway."
Changing into her monstrous form, the queen snarled and took off after Avery. Avery looked back and practically shrieked when the queen easily closed the distance between the two of them. She quickly shot upwards and dodged the queen's grasp. The queen however was easily able to correct herself and turned back towards the girl and shot at her again. Avery swam downwards and got the queen in the face with her tail fin. All that this did was annoy the queen a little more.
The queen merely reached down and grabbed Avery by the tail again. She hoisted Avery up and took hold of her once more. But as she wrapped an arm around Avery's neck, the mermaid girl took the opportunity to sink her teeth into the queen's arm. The evil queen shrieked in pain and loosened her hold on the girl and clutched the spot where Avery had bitten her.
With the queen distracted, Avery swam away from her once more. By now she was swimming fast through the water, no longer using her arms to swim through the water and instead was beating her tail fin like crazy with her arms at her sides, allowing her to swim through the water unobstructed as the lake fish allowed her passage.
'Is this? Am I gliding through the water? I did it. I actually accomplished it,' she thought to herself.
A sudden roar from behind broke her out of her thoughts and she turned her head around to see the queen closing the gap between them again. Avery looked forward and saw a large rock sitting on the lake bed in front of her. An idea crossed her mind and she swam closer towards the rock with the queen trailing close behind. Right as the queen was about to grab her again, Avery looked at the rock in front of her and right as the timing was right, she surged upwards and out of harms way. She did watch and even laughed as soon as she saw the queen bash her own head against the rock.
The queen roared and hissed in pain as she clutched her head and rubbed the area where her head had hit the rock.
Avery smirked in satisfaction and began swimming quickly back towards the area where she had left Courage. She swam as quickly as she could and hoped that she could get there before the queen recovered. But already she could hear the evil monarch snarling again and could tell that she was coming after her once more. She turned her head to see the queen closing in on her once again. Avery decided that the best hope of getting away was to alert Courage to her situation. All she hoped is that the little dog was awake now.
She turned herself upward again and began gliding for the surface. The sunlight shined in her eyes so it was hard to make out how far away from the surface she was. In a short time though, she managed to break through the surface and found herself jumping high into the air above the water. She looked over to where Courage was and saw that the little dog was awake. Not knowing of her situation, Courage smiled and waved to her, making Avery smile a little.
Her joy was short lived however as she heard a splash from below her and looked down to see the queen breaking the surface as well. As she broke the surface, the queen morphed from her monster form and back to her regular form as she smiled evily and held what looked like a clear ball in one of her hands and stared right up at Avery.
"Now I have you," the queen said and then threw the ball at Avery.
Avery watched as she began falling back to the water and saw the ball flying towards her. As soon as the ball struck her midsection, the wind was knocked out of her and as soon as she hit the water she felt something forming around her. Avery couldn't tell what had just happened, but she was surprised by the lack of water she was feeling despite having landed back in the water. Not only that, but she suddenly found herself curled into a ball and not able to straighten her body or tail out. This combined with her looking out and seeing that she was underwater again, but with a translucent film between her and the water. Her arms were bunched at her sides and tried pushing them out only to find that she could only stretch them out a little before they were forced back. And as feeling returned to her, she could feel that her hands were pushing against the surface of the film and that it had feeling that felt a bit like thin plastic but with a soapy texture to it and she felt the same thing wherever her skin and scales was touching the film as well.
It didn't take her long to realize what had happened.
"Oh no!" she wailed as she pushed her hands against the sides of the bubble she was now trapped in.
She pushed her hands and tail against the sides of the bubble as hard as she could, but all she could manage was to make the skin of it stretch a little. If she had enough room for leverage, she'd try beating her fists against it. But she didn't even have enough room to stretch, let alone get enough force for a stronger attack against her prison. Her attempts at escape came to a halt though as a shadow fell over her.
She looked up to see the queen gliding down to her and she stood over the trapped girl as that sinister smile of hers returned to her face once more. Avery made one last feeble attempt to push against the sides of the bubble once more, but to no avail.
The queen placed one hand on the bubble and said, "Now you're mine."
Avery shuddered as the queen took hold of the bubble and started pulling her away. All she could do was hope that Courage had seen them.
Back on the shore, Courage's jaw had literally hit the ground when he had seen Avery get attacked by a foe that he had hoped that he would never see again. One moment he had been waking up from a monster nap and had just cracked into a soda he had brought along for the trip. But when he saw Avery shooting out of the water and into the air, he had been amazed by the majestic sight. But when he saw that evil witch fly out of the water as well, his joy had been shot. But when he had seen the queen toss a ball at Avery and trap her within something, that joy was killed completely.
So now here he was, freaking out not knowing what to do and with no idea what was happening now. All he knew was that Avery was in trouble and he would be too if he returned home without her, not that he'd ever abandon her. He scanned the lake in hopes that he could find someone could help, but almost everyone had packed up and left for the day. Moreover it would be a bad idea to expose Avery's secret to the world, even if it meant saving her life.
Seeing no other options, Courage let out a frightened whine and rushed over to the truck, opening a box that he had brought with them in the event of an emergency and pulled out a scuba tank and goggles much like he had used the first time he had encountered the evil queen. Placing the goggle over his eyes and inserting the mouth piece of the scuba tank into his mouth, he raced for the water and dove in as soon as he reached the water line.
He quickly swam in the direction that he had seen Avery jump from and watched through the water as best he could, keeping his eyes open for Avery, the queen or any sign of them. He didn't have to swim far before he could see a dim blue light emanating from the lake bed in the distance. He quietly swam over and as he got closer to it, he could hear the sound of someone whimpering combined with some evil chuckles. It didn't take long for him to see that light looked like a portal and he saw a circular room that looked like a cross between a kitchen and a lab on the other side.
There was bubbling cauldron inside over a small fire and various bottles and tubes and even some strange looking plants in jars. There was even some cutlery equipment hanging on the wall and a few books on a shelf.
Courage poked his head in and to his surprise, his head was sticking out in a dry room with his head sticking up out of a pool of water in the center of it. He appeared to be right side up, yet when he looked down, the lake he had been swimming looked like it was upside down and that he was sticking his head in the lake bed. Not wanting to be seen, Courage ducked down and stayed on his side of the portal and looked through the portal to see what was happening.
He could see Avery alone inside, still in her mermaid form and trapped inside a bubble near the cauldron. She was struggling to free herself, but with little to no results. A door in the room swung open and Courage let out a little whine when he saw the evil queen stepping in all her evilness. The queen walked over to Avery and tapped her finger against the bubble and chuckled before going over to a bubbling cauldron, grabbing a book and a few bottles and jars.
Avery pushed against the side a little more and said, "Please, let me go."
The queen looked at her and said, "Now why would I do that? I caught you FAIR AND SQUARE and now you belong to me. Oh and you can struggle all you want, but I'm the only one that can let you out of there."
"What do you even want with me? Me and Courage humiliated you the last time we encountered each other. I'm honestly surprised that you're not trying to kill me right now," Avery said.
The queen focused on her cauldron and said, "You might still end up that way, depending on how this turns out. You see, that bubble you're trapped in is not a stable spell. Ever since I sealed you in there, it's been getting smaller and smaller. Eventually it'll either crush you inside of it or it'll shrink down into nothingness. I haven't tested it that much."
Both Courage and Avery gasped at that revelation. Avery tested the sides of the bubble and to her shock, the skin of the bubble was feeling a little tighter than it had been earlier and she wasn't able to push the sides out further. She also realized that she was feeling a little more bunched up than earlier. The final clue was that earlier when she had been sealed, the top of the bubble had been a couple of inches above her head. When she checked it, she was alarmed to feel that there was only an inch or so between her head and the top of the bubble.
Avery cringed at the possibility of being crushed and said, "So if you don't want to kill me, what do you want?"
The queen smirked as she pulled out a strange looking plant and began chopping it and said, "It's very simple my dear. Merfolk are a very hard commodity to come by these days. Even rarer than merfolk are ones that can both swim in the ocean and walk on land. And it's getting harder and harder for me to entice prey these days due to the changing times on the surface. So if I had one as a minion, then it'd be easier for me to get food again."
Avery was stunned to say the least.
"A minion? You want me as a minion? Hell no! I will not be a servant to you," Avery said and fought against her prison with renewed vigor.
The queen finished chopping the plant and scrapped the pieces into her cauldron along with some powder she had sitting nearby.
"Not a servant, a slave. Being a servant makes it sound like you took this job willingly. If you had taken my offer, you'd be worthy of that title. But because you decided to be difficult about this, you deserve the slave term," the queen said and then poured some purple liquid into the cauldron.
The queen then took a small ball of dough from a small sack on the table and dipped it into the liquid of the cauldron. Courage watched with uncertainty as the liquid in the iron pot glowed for a moment and the queen pulled the ball out as it took on a purple sheen. She turned towards Avery and walked over to her. The queen reached out to her with the hand containing the ball and both Avery and Courage watched as the queen's hand easily slip through the surface of the bubble and held the ball out towards Avery.
"Eat this," the queen demanded.
Avery backed her head away as far as she could, which was barely anything. The distance between the top of the bubble and her head had diminished and was now just barely above her head. The queen was aware of this and looked down at her darkly, knowing that there was no room for negotiation.
Still Avery tried swatting the ball of dough away, but the queen closed her hand around the ball, preventing her from dropping it. Instead, she slid her other hand through the surface of the bubble and griped Avery's chin, squeezing her cheeks and forcing her mouth open. Acting quickly, the queen stuck the ball into Avery's mouth and forced her to chew and swallow it.
Avery gagged at the horrible taste of the thing, but right after she swallowed it, a sharp pain instantly hit her stomach and even though couldn't see them, her eyes took on a magenta color like the queen's eyes as one of her hands gripped her stomach, trying to ease the pain. After a moment, the pain subsided and she looked back up at the queen as the color faded from her eyes.
"Mistress wh... wait, what did you do to me?" she asked.
The queen smirked and said, "That was just a test to see if I got the formula right. Lucky for you, I'll be letting you out soon. But first I need to fetch an empty bottle to put the potion in. Also a syringe in case you decide to be difficult again. Doesn't matter if you drink it or I inject it, it'll still do it's job just fine."
And with that, the evil queen turned to the entrance of the room and started walked back out, slamming the door behind her. Avery let out a cry and slunk down inside her prison. She hadn't seen hide or hair of Courage and wasn't sure if the little dog had seen her get caught or if he was able to go after her. And now here she was, trapped with nowhere to run and at the mercy of an evil witch. All she could do was sit in her prison and wait for her captor to return and corrupt her soul.
Tears stung at Avery's eyes.
She was broken out of her thoughts though as she heard a splash and turned her head towards the pool of water and saw a familiar canine climbing out of the water.
Avery smiled at the sight of the dog and said, "Courage!"
Courage reached into what looked like a side pocket in his fur and pulled out a large pin. He walked over to the bubble and tried poking it with the pin. Instead of popping the bubble like he intended, the pin merely bounced off of the surface of it.
Avery shook her head and said, "That's not gonna work boy. She's the only one who can get me out. You need to make her pop this thing."
It was here that she realized that the top of the bubble was now grazing the top of her head and her body was a little more folded up inside her prison, along with her arms being able to push outwards even less than before.
"Oh and Courage, the bubble is shrinking so please HURRY!" Avery cried out.
Courage let out an alarmed shriek and ran over to the bubble, got underneath and lifted it up over his head. But just as he got her up, the door to the lab swung open and the queen stepped back into the room.
She took one look at Courage and with a snarl, she revealed her sharp teeth again and said, "You!"
Courage turned to look at her and let out a terrified scream and ran to the pool and jumped in head first with Avery still above him. Next thing he knew, they were back out in open water and began swimming for his life.
Avery beat an open palm against the skin of the bubble and said, "Courage wait, we still need her to get me out. Try tricking her."
Courage let out a terrified whine, but knew she was right. He slowed down a bit, but didn't have to wait long for the queen to reach him. She came surging out of the portal in her monstorous form and dashed straight towards them with her clawed hands outstretched.
Avery saw this and said, "Courage toss me at her now."
Courage could see what she was getting at and did exactly as Avery instructed, but the queen moved her hands away and instead swatted the bubble away from her with her arm, sending Avery tumbling back down to the lake bed as the queen went after Courage.
The bubble landed on the lake floor with a slight bounce and Avery sighed and said, "Well that was nice try at least."
She tried pulling herself up some, but to her horror she realized that she couldn't lift her head all the way up now. The bubble had shrunk enough to where she couldn't lift her head all the way up anymore. Moreover, her folded up arms were beginning to press into her sides and the portion of her tail where her knees should be was being forced closer to her torso. She could now even feel the thing shrinking in motion around her.
She tried pushing her arms outward, but now they could barely move. If she didn't get out soon...
Avery felt her heart hammering in her chest and looked out to see Courage swimming as fast as he could away from the evil queen. Every time he tried swimming in her direction, the queen would end up cutting him off.
"Courage, trick her. Confuse her and force her this way," she said quietly and began to repeat it to herself.
Courage swam as best he could from the sea queen, but was trying to keep his eyes on Avery as well. Instinctively, he turned towards her and could see her mouth moving. He watched as best he could given his current situation, but swore that she was instructing him. Reading her lips, he believed that he had the message and looked back to where the queen was. She was rushing him again with her jaws wide open, ready to take a bite out of him.
He sat there and waited for her to be in arms reach of him. Right as she was about to take a bite out of him, Courage dodged and forced her to hit her head on a rock for the second time today, disorienting her and leaving her seeing stars.
She roared in fury and said, "ARGH AGAIN?! STUPID DOG!"
Courage swam in front of her and with her seeing stars and multiple Courage's, began snapping at them, giving him some time to get some distance between him and her as he swam back towards Avery. But as the queen shook her head clear, she turned to see him swimming away from her again.
With her face gone red from rage, she charged through the water towards the dog and as Courage reached the bubble, he shrieked as the queen stretched out her arm and took a swipe at him. Thankfully she missed as the dog had ducked before she could even scratch him. But her claws had raked against the bubble and it resulted in a small tear in Avery's prison. The queen was so focused on Courage that she didn't even notice her mistake.
As the queen chased after Courage again, Avery saw the tear in the film of the bubble and watched as water began dripping inside. Seeing her chance, she wrestled her right arm free from her side and reached up to the tear. It was just big enough for all five of her fingers to dig into and as she pushed her fingers against the sides of the tear she could feel the bubble starting to rip open and as the flow of water increased, so did her relief. As soon as she had made a big enough tear, she wrestled her other arm free and used her other hand to tear the bubble open even more. Once she had her head free from the bubble, she used her tail as leverage to push herself the rest of the way out of her prison, finally freeing her.
Upon being free of the bubble, Avery stretched her arms and tail making her joints pop as soreness began to settle on her muscles from being bunched up for so long. She didn't have time to celebrate though as she could see that Courage was still in trouble. Not sure what to do, Avery glanced around to look for something she could use to help with. But it was at that very moment that a boat passing above her decided that now would be the best time to drop anchor right on the remains of the bubble, crushing it flat.
She looked at the anchor and said, "In the middle of a lake? I'll never understand boaters. But this will work."
Picking up a flat rock, Avery swam to the top of the anchor line and began cutting away at it with the sharp side of the rock. The bracelet glowed as she did, increasing the sharpness and strength of the rock. In little time, she had the rope cut and began tying a loop in the rope. She didn't even notice the owner of the boat trying to look down at the line.
As soon as the loop was tied in the rope, she put her hand to her mouth and said, "Courage! Over here!"
Courage heard her call and began swimming in her direction with the queen trailing behind him. The queen focused on Courage and Courage solely that she didn't even realize Avery was there until she saw the girl with the rope as she passed. As soon as she was passing, Avery threw the rope around the queen's neck, forcing it to tighten around her neck and almost chocking her. It did however force the queen to stop instantly and started cursing out loud. As she hadn't put things together yet, the queen kept trying to reach out to the duo just beyond her reach.
Seeing their chance, Avery wrapped an arm around Courage and said, "We're leaving now!"
Avery turned away from the queen and began gliding towards the shore, at this point Avery didn't care which shore she landed on. All she knew is that they needed to get out of the water. The queen watched them swimming away for a couple of seconds before turning her attention to the rope and began chewing on it with her sharp teeth. This distraction however was just enough for Avery to get her and Courage a considerable distance away. By the time the queen was free from the anchor line, the duo were already close to the shore. With just a few yards to go, Avery turned back and saw the queen coming again,
She looked at Courage and said, "Brace yourself boy. I'm jumping out."
Courage nodded and prepared for the jump as Avery tightened her hold on him. Avery shot towards the surface of the water and could JUST feel the tips of the queen's fingernails brushing her tail fin when Avery suddenly pulled upwards, causing her to jump from the water and landing on the grassy shore by the lake. She felt some pain from where her shoulder had scrapped the ground, but looked back to see that they were at least a few yards from the water. She looked down at her body and saw the glow enveloping her body and when it subsided, her body was back to it's usual self with the clothes she had come to the lake in.
She heard Courage groan from nearby and she looked over at him as he sat up.
"You okay boy?" she asked.
Courage responded by letting out a goofy laugh and giving her a thumbs up. They both heard a loud angry growl and looked back to the see the angry queen sticking her head up out of the water. Avery was instantly on her feet and helped Courage up as well. They saw that their site not too far from where that landed and ran for the truck as the queen began pulling herself onto the shore. They quickly climbed in and Courage started the truck and in no time, he had the truck turned around and was flooring it. This resulted in a ton of grass and dirt pummeling the queen in the face as the truck drove off and out of sight.
The queen watched them leave with renewed fury and let out a horrific roar of rage before turning back to the water and diving back in.
Out on the road, Courage drove the truck as fast as he could down the road and didn't ease up until the truck was out of the forest and out on the highway. Both he and Avery were breathing hard with their hearts pounding and they did not look back until they felt that they were a safe enough distance away from the forest. Avery looked back and was relieved to see that they were not being chased.
She reached over to pat Courage on the head and said, "Good boy. Next time we decide to practice my swimming, let's do it in a pool after hours instead. Hopefully we won't be bothered there."
Courage nodded in agreement as they drove in the direction of the setting sun.
The queen pulled herself back into her lab and with a snarl, she closed up the portal behind her and growled in frustration as she turned back to her more humanlike form.
"So close, I almost had her. If I had just closed that lousy portal when I brought her in," she said and then slammed her fist on the table.
She buried her head in her hands as she vented her frustration and went over to her cauldron. She swiped her hand across the surface and brought up Avery's image as she sat with Courage as they drove away, the both of them laughing at the queen's expense no doubt.
She turned away from the cauldron in disgust, stewing in her own fury.
"You outsmarted me this time child, but now I know to not underestimate you. Next time, I will NOT be so gentle," the queen said and left the room.
So that's that. I hope everyone enjoyed this overlong and long overdue chapter. This was a challenging chapter to get right or as right as I could get it. All I can say is, this was hard work and it took a lot out of me. Even if I haven't been updating, I have still been working on some stuff for this story in my free time.
So now we know how dangerous the queen can be when she's not using brute force. She just didn't plan well for oversights.
Next chapter will be: Everyone Wants To Direct.
I'll get that one done as soon as I can, I still haven't fully planned it out yet.