I think it’s about time we got going.

With the presence of Arigold’s forces in Neotopia, we’re forced to leave earlier than we were hoping.

It’s been about a month now, and I’m finally a lake heir, the next stage is lake lord, then great lake elder.

Not sure what comes after that…

“Yo, Demi, we’re moving out!” Steriya shouts after teleporting into my room. The wind brushes past her hair, guiding it along as we begin moving.

Demi - “This is happening sooner than I expected.”

Steriya begins to approach my nest. “Yeah, that Black Lockey guy you were telling everyone about has been getting closer to Neo-Genesis-Haven.” She finally stops in front of my nest and sits down. “A few scouts and I went out to look and see if we could find the guy, and well, he almost spotted US. Sebas got everyone out of the way before he took notice of us. Turns out the guy is impossible to track via mana signatures. He’s also really shouty, he barks at everyone about some of the most inconsequential things. But that’s neither here nor there.” She finishes, and waits for me to speak up.

Demi - “Aren’t there supposed to be five members in each squad or something?”

Her face lights up in surprise, and she starts thinking to herself. “Oh yeah, I guess there WAS four other people there, Lockey’s constant shouting kind of just kept everyone’s attention on him, but I think I saw three of his members trying to do damage control, but the last one. The last one was surprisingly tall, and covered in black armor. He called them Nexus, all they really did was just stand there, and listen to him bark orders. Might be a robot. That’s all I was really able to gather.” Steriya finishes her report, and looks off into the direction we’re heading.

Demi - “Sounds interesting. We’re headed to uh, Everessence right?”

“Yeah, that’s the goal, but we plan to make a few stops here and there. Our FIRST stop I believe is the Ocean City Ryleth-”

Demi - “Wait- wait- wait- are we crossing the ocean?!”

I quickly interrupt Steriya, so that I may convey to her my lack of information. “Yeah, Everessence is on another continent, I thought you- Oh...” Steriya finally realizes that I still don’t know much about this world. “Right, I guess you wouldn’t know that… Let’s see, there’s twelve countries with varying numbers of satellite cities that are situated near them, under their protection. Currently, all twelve nations are situated on three major land masses, more on that in a moment-” Steriya stands up, and taps on her ceramic plates a few times. It deploys a hologram into the open air, and she begins to draw on it.

She’s drawing a map, depicting the three major land masses with multiple tinier land masses scattered across the ocean. She then draws large red dots representing the positions of each nation with a World Power. After that, she draws their satellite cities, and finally, the cities like Ryleth, which isn’t governed by a higher power like the satellite cities. “And this is what our world should look like- Oh, wait-” She quickly draws another island, and writes: “Weird tree archipelago thing?” next to it.

Demi - “What’s that one?”

Steriya continues to write down the names of each city. “Right, nobody’s quite sure, it’s an archipelago way out in the null zone- well, I’m not certain if it’s an archipelago, the trees just started popping up randomly out of nowhere a few hundred years ago. I wish I could tell you more.” She quickly finishes, and stands next to the hologram, showing it off.

Demi - “It’s alright, I just really appreciate you taking the time to teach me all of this. Anyways, where do you think we are right now on the map?”

Steriya quickly taps on her arm again, and pulls up a satellite view that’s tracking our current position. Or GPS, if you would. “This is Orion, named after the planet, it’s a thin ring that orbits our world. Once again built by Liyoxis, that guy is a genius by no stretch of the imagination. Anyways, this is what the world really looks like, I just wanted to draw my map.” She giggles, as I stare at basically half of the world, watching it slowly turn. “If you look closely, you can actually see it in the distance.” I look up to- god damnit, I forgot I had a roof.

Demi - “You ass.”

She laughs at me, and finally presses a button to show our location on the map. “As you can see here, we’re just about to leave the Island, and it also just so happens, that today is the day Pangea is going to wake up.” She says, as we look behind us, to see the island slowly grow smaller in the distance.

Demi - “Who’s Pangea?”

“Oh, don’t worry, you’ll find out in JUST a moment..” The continent begins to shake- No way..

The continent begins to rise up from the ground, and the ocean poors in below it. We continue to make distance, until the island slows down so that we may marvel at Pangea’s incredible size.

“That is Pangea, the lion-turtle! One of the largest and oldest creatures on Orion!” Steriya shouts, as we watch a giant turtle-like creature with a lion head stand up, and stretch.

Pangea roars in unison with three other creatures, then fires a red beam into the air. The beam soars across the sky, until it collides with a yellow, and blue beam that explodes in a rainbow meteor shower of magic bullets. Pangea begins walking, as our island picks up speed again.

Demi - “What’s happening?”

“This is called the awakening, it’s a rare occurrence that only happens every once a year. These creatures are ancient, and from their perspective, this is their daily routine. As for the purpose of this, well..” Steriya just stares off into the distance, marveling at the falling stars. “This is how Pangea finds his siblings, we’re heading out for Pandora, the elephant-whale.” She finishes, as she puts away the hologram. So I guess the ancients are hybrids of two different animals.

Demi - “It really is an amazing sight, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, I guess you could call it a silver lining…” Steriya says, as the final stars begin to land.

Demi - “Aren’t they worried those bullets will hurt someone? They looked pretty strong.”

Steriya looks back at me. “They probably don’t even know we exist. But they have their own force fields to protect them from the bullets. Most cities also have force fields that protect from this event, so there’s nothing to worry about.” Steriya stands up and walks over to the edge of my room. “You know, most nations celebrate this moment, it signifies the beginning of a new year. Next year will be the Eclipsed Awakening, which signifies the beginning of the next generation.” Steriya continues to stare into the vast endless ocean, as Pangea slowly moves.

Demi - “Is that the occurrence of an eclipse at the end of new year’s eve?”

Steriya looks back at me surprised. “Yeah, I’m surprised you knew that. It’s known as one of the most beautiful sights you could ever see, and it only occurs every thirty years or so. Noble families like to travel out to the umbra, and name their successors. Everyone has even been expecting King Valigold to come out next year and name Prince Arigold as his successor, so that’s happening I guess..” The mood drops as Steriya leans against the pillar that helps hold up my roof.

Demi - “What’s our distance from Ryleth?”

Steriya pulls up the map again, and looks at it. Her head is sadly blocking my view from it. “Just a few miles away, Pangea was treading quite close to it, it’s also underwater, so some of the others won’t be able to go. Since they’re fire based and what not. How’s your training been going, you’re a lake lord now, right?” She turns around to look at me, only now beginning to notice my immense size.

Demi - “Lake heir, actually, but yeah, I’m a bit bigger than I was before, and about ten times as strong. To be honest, I could make myself bigger, while I was a pond kid I was running around at my maximum size, but I decided to hold off on that now. If I had enough water, I could stretch out my size to a hundred times my current mass.”

Steriya stares at me with shock, imagining how large I would be. “Seriously? That’s amazing. If you were that big, you might actually slow down the island.” She laughs at this. There it is, my weight..

Demi - “Yeah, I guess.. How fast are we moving, again?”

“Somewhere around four hundred to five hundred knots, that’s the speed limit. Well, it’s the speed limit when you’re in governed territory. Demistar is the one who offered up this number to be the global average, her reputation is what made it stick.” Steriya walks to the other side of my room, watching our heading.

Demi - “How do you know all of this history?”

Steriya perks up with realization- “Oh, uh- Liyoxis taught me. I figured it would be useful going forward.”

Demi - “Ah, that makes sense. I was just curious. What with everyone being locked up in that-”

“We’re just about here.” The island begins to slow down, until it finally stops.

Demi - “Oh, cool, so we’re close to R’l-”

Lexi - “Hey, Demi, Steriya, come here, we’re uh- having some trouble down here! Bring Kass!”

Steriya teleports me to Lex’s position, only a second later appearing with a confused Kass. “There it is! The monster!” What? There are three fully grown Aquatic Demihumans, the one in front is a great white shark Demihuman, the one to the left of him is a hulking Orca Demihuman, and finally, the one to the right of him is a much shorter Mantis Shrimp Demihuman.

“I’ll kill you!” The Shark Demihuman points at me, then lunges forward with his spear. I mold my body around his spear, and pull him into my abyss. “What the!” He swung his weapon violently inside of me, until I pulled it out of his grasp.

…

CHARLOTTE, STOP!

Loud screams tear through the air, as the shark man screams in pain, clutching his arm.

“It broke my arm!” He screams, as the Mantis Shrimp Demihuman lunges through me at blinding speed, involuntarily displacing my water, and saving the Shark Man. “Captain, don’t worry, once I’ve killed this thing, I’ll get you healed!” Everyone stares at the captain’s mangled arm, as he begins to force it back into shape.

“Demitallis, what did you do?!” Lex shouts, as he dashes in front of the Mantis Shrimp, who was about to strike me with one of her clubs. The Club collides with Lex’s hand, a loud bang rippling out from the shockwave.

Demi - “I-I don’t know, I blanked out for a moment, then there were screams-”

The Orca tries to slam his fists through my side like a hammer, but Tenztore rams into him before he can do anything, dragging himself and the Orca Man through the ground.

“Enough!!!”

Everyone stops, and looks over to see Vexalan and Veloura, with Glantinazor. “What the hell is going on here?!” She shouts as Veloura and Glant rushes to the Captain’s side. “I’ll get you fixed up.” Glant says, as life energy flows from his eye. “Your pet just mangled my arm..” He says, as Veloura holds up the damaged limb.

The Mantis Shrimp Person backs away from Lex, and tries to go for another strike at me, but not before Vexalan can grab her, and toss her away. “Don’t you touch her!” Vexalan shouts, as she appears in front of her, both clubs raised over her head. “Help!” She screams, and Lex appears right below the shrimp girl, sending his heel straight into her chin. The Orca man finally overpowers Tenztore, and tosses him to the side. I fire a large bearing at the Orca’s forehead, knocking him out. The Mantis-Shrimp Man stares at her Orca friend, and finally slams her massive clubs into both Vexalan and Lex-, instantly knocking them out.

“Valeria, enough!” Shark Captain shouts, causing her to pause, and me to alter a bearing shot. The bearing flies through multiple buildings, before landing into the ocean.

Demi - “Oops.”

Everyone’s a little exhausted, they look at me, then at the large holes that have been blown through multiple houses, then back at me again. “Did anyone else hear that?” The Orca man says, as he begins to stand, surprising Tenztore. Jeez he’s tough, that was a large bearing shot too.

Demi - “Everyone heard it, I’m using telepathy.”

Veloura sighs, then speaks up. “It’s Demitallis, she’s the lake heir, she developed a telepathy skill to speak to everyone.” Glant finishes healing the arm, it’s still broken, but it’s starting to look better. “My eye can use Life magic, I’ve basically restored the lost essence, your arm will make a full recovery, once it’s fully healed of course.” The Shark Captain stares at his arm, then looks at Glant. “Thanks.. I’m Fingsk, Fingsk Glaowgore.” He says, as Glant helps him up. “Yeah, no problem, I’m Glantinazor-” -Veyta quickly swaps places with him- “And I’m Veytatasm!” She says before swapping back. “Ah, that was my sister, she’s on her way. Her eye lets her swap places with me.” Fingsk is confused, but he nods anyways, then looks at me.

Demi - “Hello.”

He reels back in surprise. “Are you sure it’s tame?” He says, making glant look at him. “Yeah.” He says, as Veyta lands on top of me. “Sorry I missed the fight, I didn’t want to interrupt Glant.” Glant nods, and she jumps down.

“I think explanations are in order.” Veloura says, looking up at Fingsk, with her arms crossed. “Right..” Fingsk says, as he calls his friends to his side.

After about an hour, Vexalan and Lex wake up, and we find ourselves seated on some boxes. Well, everyone but me. Veloura starts. “Why did you attack Demi?” Fingsk looks at me, then back at Veloura. “We were sent to intercept you, but when your friend appeared, well.. I lost control…” Valeria quickly cuts in- “Nobody would blame you captain, after what those things did so long ago.” Veloura looks confused. “What are you talking about?”

Oh boy.

I guess we no longer have a choice.

Veloura looks back at me, soon followed by all of my other siblings. Fingsk speaks up, gathering everyone’s attention again. “Did nobody ever tell you? Those things nearly wiped out all life on Orion, thankfully though, Prince Arigold from the golden kingdom exterminated all of them. Or so we thought..” Everyone looks at me again. “D-Did you know about this, Demi?!” Veloura says.

Demi - “Yes. I learned of it shortly before I came to rescue everyone.”

“Wh-Why did you never tell us?!” Veloura continues, as everyone stares at me.

Demi - “Because you’re all too young, I didn’t want to burden any of you with my heritage.”

“You’re younger than all of us!” Veloura exclaims. Fingsk stands up again, and shouts. “It was our nation, two thousand years ago, that was hit the worst by them! We were taught by our elders of their atrocities, of how brave warriors would never return home, ended before they could ever know, by an enemy that was almost impossible to predict!” Fingsk reminds everyone what we were doing.

Demi - “I am sorry about what my ancestors did, and there is nothing I could possibly do to make up for it. But I can promise you that I personally, would never hurt an innocent.”

Fingsk sighs, then looks back up at me. “I guess.. I guess you can’t be held accountable for what happened. You’re just a kid. I just- the stories, nobody was ever certain that all the puddle kids had been eradicated. True peace and tranquility was robbed from us, and when you appeared, everyone’s worst nightmare had finally come true.” He just stares at me, then holds his head in his hands. “They told us that if the puddle kids returned, that our civilization, our way of life would be torn apart…” He just stares into his hands, not knowing what to do.

Demi - “Currently, there only remains two puddle kids-”

Everyone looks at me again, soon followed by Veloura, only now remembering Arivan. “Wait what?” Vexalan finally says, breaking the silence.

Demi - “Puddle kids can reproduce via parthenogenesis, I may have decided to make a daughter. She’s completely aware though, just like me.”

Complete and utter surprise on everyone’s face. Everyone but Fingsk, and his friends at least. “Wait, but you’re a lake heir, I thought only great lake elders could produce offspring-” Valeria says, before I interrupt her.

Demi - “Puddle kids can start reproduction at the pond kid stage. The problem however, is that my ancestors were extremely simpleminded, and never understood all of the facets of what their bodies could really do. They blindly consumed, and expanded, that was their only directive. But I’m different, and so is my daughter. We could show them that this generation of puddle kids are friendly, and show them that there is no longer anything to fear.”

The three aquatic soldiers stare at me in astonishment. “I.. I don’t- this is what our people have been taught for two thousand years… How could you possibly find a way to prove this to everyone?”

That’s a good point, you can’t just change all of the minds of an entire nation in a day.

Demi - “I dunno.”

Surprise slowly turns to disappointment as they stare at me, trying to find a face to focus on.

Demi - “Don’t look at me like that, I don’t have all the answers!”

Fingsk folds his arms, and finally breaks the silence, grabbing everyone’s attention once more. “That’s fair, you’re right, we shouldn’t ask you to come up with everything. There’s a powerful crime lord named Pollux Bask. Everyone knows what he does, but the police force hasn't been able to link him to any crimes. I’ll talk with the general and the chief of police, see if I can get this plan accepted. I think if you can take down his organization, and find evidence, without harming anyone, it might begin to sway everyone’s opinion. Nobody has seen a puddle kid for over two thousand years, all we have is the stories, I think this might work...” And with that, we have the beginning of a plan.

Demi - “Well, now that we have a basic plan, I just need to know ONE thing. Anyone know what happened to Kass?”

Everyone only now remembers that we brought her. The three soldiers on the other hand, are a little confused. “Who is Kass?” The orca man finally asks.

Kass leans over from behind a building. “R-Right here, I’m Kassinkamble-Eccentric-Genesis.” She steps out from behind the building.. “W-Wait, are you a megalodon? They went extinct hundreds of years ago..” Fingsk asks, causing Kass to nod politely. Fingsk walks over, and looks at her. “Y-You’re still at your first stage…” Right, you can tell what stage a Shark-Demihuman is at, by the size, and number of fins on their body. An adult will usually have about three times the amount of fins. I assume they evolved that way, to keep up with the competition. “You’re- uh- your name is Fingsk, right?” She says, making Fingsk realize something. “R-Right, yeah. I’m Fingsk, over there is Valeria-Rotana, and Doldarine-Glance.” The other two approaches, to take a look at Kass, making her back away. “Are you okay down there, Kass?” Veyta asks, causing Kass to quickly look up at her. “I’m fine, I’m just a little shy around other Aquatic Demi-Humans.” The three soldiers step back. “O-Oh, s-sorry. It’s just, most megalodons are royalty- You were born under the Kamble-Family correct?” Kass simply looks around confused, then finally replies with a shrug. “I’m not sure, my brother knows more about our lineage than I do.” Ah, yes, Dartingkamble-Genesis, I’ll call him over.

Dart - “Seems like things have calmed down over there..”

Demi - “Yeah. Can you get over here? Kass said you knew more about the Kamble family.”

Dart - “On it.”

And now connect to the group right here~

Demi - “Dart’s on his way guys.”

Everyone just stares at me, until they notice Dart land on my surface, surprising Veyta. He stands there, perfectly stock still. “Hi Dart.” Veyta says, causing him to turn his head and reply. “Hello Veyta.”

Everyone just stares at him as he jumps down, and walks over to Kass and Fingsk. “Hello.” He says, somehow taking Fingsk by surprise, until he holds out his hand. “H-Hi..” Fingsk says, as he shakes Dart’s hand. “What do you need to know?” The two politely trade information for a while, ‘till Fingsk and the other two are satisfied.

“I guess I’m just surprised, I never thought I would get the chance to meet a Royal Mega.” Fingsk says, as Dart leans against a wall. “My sister and I are the last of our name, so I’ve been assuming we have inherited no assets. Now that I’ve got a chance though, I’d like to confirm it.” Fingsk just thinks to himself for a moment. “Actually, there’s a vault named the; ‘Royal-Crypt’. Usually, in the event that somebody dies with nobody for the assets to go to, the assets will be taken by the state. But, you can pay the warden to hold onto your assets for you, until they finally find an heir to return it to-” Dart’s eyes widen a little, and he replies. “So you think the Kamble family might have left their assets in the Royal-Crypt?” Fingsk folds his arms. “Yeah, I’m not really certain about that. But they might have done that.” Dart nods with his eyes closed. Then stands up straight again. “Alright, thanks. You should probably get going though.” Fingsk nods and agrees, calling over his teammates.

“You’re right. I’ll see what I can do to get you guys a meeting with the proper authorities. I’ll make sure to update you on progress as soon as possible.” Fingsk and his team finally jumps over the edge, and lands in the ocean, swimming back to Ryleth.

Demi - “So, assets huh?”

Dart simply looks over at me, then replies. “Yeah, I figured we could use it, if I had anything to inherit. If it turns out to be true, I’ll have a new vault constructed, then the assets will be placed safely under the Genesis name.”

Demi - “I wonder if anyone else has assets to inherit. I know I wouldn’t, since I’m a Puddle Kid.”

Dart nods, then looks away. “Well, it’s about time me and Kass got going, call us up later.” And finally, with that, everyone disperses.

Now it’s time for the thing I’ve been waiting for! I finally jump off the ledge of the island, and descend into the endless ocean.

End of Chapter: 20 “Let the adventures begin!”

Thank you for reading.

“O-Oh yeah, thanks.”

“Who am I even thanking again?”

“Thanks.”