The sun was setting over Apple Pisland. Fred Shoved Tomas into a tree and held him there to shout into his face, “You brought a Science-Damned magical fish to my beach?! Are you out of your mind? Why I oughta…” he stopped and tilted his head as he thought of something. Letting go of Tomas he ran over to his workstation and started Sketching the Blueprints for a conch shell based guided missile.

Einstein was patting Dogalogue and looking over the now finished, tropical battle mech in awe. As a genius she could tell that what Fred had made was Brilliant. It might even rival some of the weapons she had designed in her youth when she had full access to all the materials and data that the Scientist race had in its prime. She considered if Fred was actually supernatural. Scientists had data on rare individuals who were able to do the seemingly impossible without the help of magic or science.

When it came to battle suits and cybernetics Edison was usually man to look to. Einstein frowned remembering her former first officer. He had grown obsessed with creating a military branch of the SNOOP faction made of cyborg soldiers. A counter-productive idea for a faction based around peace through diplomacy. They had fallen out over it years ago and he had run off to play silent soldier for the NWA faction. She hoped he was doing poorly.

Fred was clearly the better inventor while in the right mindset. Unfortunately it didn't seem like it was sustainable. Fred could only be so angry for so long. Unless… A stream of inventions filled her head. Cybernetic rage enhancing implants, anger pheromone releasing helmets, dream re-writers that filled every night with fury inducing nightmares. She hadn't felt this creative since she was a child. She pulled out her notepad and began sketching blueprints too.

Further down the beach, Sonia the hand crab was praying to the setting sun, as all hand crabs did. He saw the smoke from the fires that consumed Coolsville in the distance but gave them no second thoughts. Now was a time for self reflection.

Today had been a good day. His boss had liked his work performance and as a result, he had been blessed with lungs and a mouth made for talking. He had met many interesting people who all seemed quite friendly and kind. He looked over to where Tomas was dusting himself off after Fred’s attack. Well, maybe they were not that friendly and kind, but they certainly were interesting.

Sonia gathered all of these thoughts into an imaginary ball and threw them at the setting sun. In doing so he noticed something else in the distance. They were being approached by two figures.

DNA Jellyfish’s elites Greg and The Quintuplets had gone ahead of the other two as they didnt with to wait around for Mr. Abs to finish praying. Now it seemed they would get to kill DNA’s enemy by themselves as they could spot a group of people on the beach.

Clang clang clang The Quintuplets said.

“Haha! I can’t wait either. DNA is gonna be so happy with us!” Greg replied

Back at the workshop Sonia approached Fred, “Fish coming. Five of um. Yous said to tell you when fish coming.” He pointed down the beach.

Fred stopped what he was doing immediately and his head swivelled to make sure the fish weren't in his workstation. Finally he looked to where Sonia was pointing. They were still so far down the beach that they looked like dots to Fred. They made him shiver all the same. “Wow your eyes are good, Sonia. Thankyou” He told the hand crab.

Sonia would throw that praise into the sun later.

Fred shouted to the others, “Fish incoming! Prepare for combat!!”. He started flicking switches and firing up his mech.

Einstein squinted down the beach, “Chill out Fred, no need to green rage at everything, you don't know who they are or why they're here.” She had been making offhand racist terms for so long during Freds creative streak that they had become second nature to her now.

“Thems Greg and Kwintuplesh,” Sonia told her, bubbling up at the mouth in excitement. He wiped his mouth and continued, “Thems kill for boss. Only ever together for kill.”

“Oh…” Einstein was worried now. She had heard of them before. “I didn't bring any weapons, May I use your palm leaf rifle?” She asked Fred.

“Sure,” Fred said, now sitting in his mech. Its eyes zoomed and focused on the incoming enemies. “Two enemies. One appears to be five fish stuck together. Damn your eyes are good Sonia. That one's mine. The other’s a big ugly guy. Einstein, you and… TOMAS GET BACK HERE AND FIGHT. THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT FOR LETTING THE FISH KNOW WHERE WE ARE! You and Tomas take the big one. Got it?”

“Got it,” confirmed Einstein.

Tomas who had been trying to sneak off trudged back looking dejected, “fine but for the record I don't think this is my fault.”

The last of the coconut milk reactors whirred online, Einstein locked and loaded her palm leaf rifle, Dogalogue growled, and even Tomas took a half octopus fighting form. Fred smashed the mech’s fists together and looked down at the gathered combatants, “I should have gone to the bathroom before jumping in this thing.”

Further away, Stallion watched as Mr. Abs gathered an enormous amount of happiness into an imaginary ball to throw at the sun. It was taking much longer than normal but Stallion didn't dare interrupt him. It understood that this act was sacred to hand crabs and that Mr. Abs and that he had so much to be happy about today.

“Just one more handful to represent my joy that you are so patient with me,” He said, adding another handful of happiness to the imaginary ball, “And off you go, into the sun!” Mr. Abs hurled with all his might. His powerful muscles flexing as the air around his hand made a loud ‘woosh’ from the speed at which he threw. Even the ground trembled at his might.

Stallion bowed her head to the sun in respect.

“Thank you for waiting for me. Your understanding heart is immense. We must catch up with the others. They may have even reached the beach before us.”

Stallion had been giving its next words a great deal of thought. It struggled to get them out, “What if we…. What if we didn’t go? You said so yourself that this mission seems cosmically doomed from the start. We can just leave, swim away.”

Mr. Abs was shocked, Stallion was the last person he would ever expect such words from. “DNA would never forgive us… Our days would be numbered…”

“If you’re right about this mission, and I believe you are, our days are numbered either way. At least this way, those days will be spent together.”

Mr. Abs thought deeply. Stallion was right, he wanted more than anything to accept her idea immediately, but it was such a big and important decision that he stopped himself and thought about it properly. A full minute of silence passed between them and Stallion was growing nervous. Finally Mr. Abs came out of his introspection and looked into its eyes. “Yes.” was all he said. It was all that needed to be said. Tears ran down both of their faces as they embraced one another.

“You've made me the happiest mutant seahorse in the universe.” Stallion whispered “Get on, let’s go.”

Mr. Abs hopped on Stallions back like riding a real horse and spurred her into motion with his heels, “Hyaaah!” he shouted as they rode off into the sunset together.

Greg started picking up momentum and lumbered forward into a sprint. Einstein held the palm leaf rifle to her shoulder and started shooting. Greg was a large target so each shot easily hit massive body. Blood dripped from the holes forming on his body but didn't slow him down at all. Einstein leapt onto Dogalogue and escaped into the jungle, luring Greg away.

From hidden behind him, The Quintuplets began cartwheeling around and sped ahead, turning themselves into a pinwheel of death. Fred stepped forward in his mech. The yet unnamed war machine was a mass or surfboard shaped armour panel adorned with palm leaves, seashells, and jungle vines. Coconuts made up the bulk of its weaponry. they lined its fists and shoulders in neat rows. Fred’s new found talent had helped him discover the hidden potential of the materials he had at hand. He had reinforced everything to strengths beyond that of steel and plastics and his mech moved with a fluid gratefulness not usually seen in large machinery.

Two of the coconuts on his shoulders fired off and landed in the sand in The Quintuplets path. They exploded, launching sand up into the air. The Quintuplets were blown off balance by the blasts and fell into the sand. As they picked themselves up Fred began marching towards them. He launched two more shoulder coconuts but this time they knew to cartwheel out of the way before they landed and exploded. They curved around and spun towards Fred at high speed. They bounced up off of the sand and launched at him, four of their five blades pointed forward. Fred raised a reinforced surfboard shield up to block but his wasn't the only talent specialising in releasing hidden potential. DNA Jellyfish hard turned the bladed noses of the conjoined swordfish razor sharp and almost unbreakable. All four blades pierced the shield and stabbed towards Fred’s face in his pilot’s seat. They stopped only centimetres from his face as they were just not long enough. Fred shook his shield to try and dislodge them. It was lucky that he did as just as he moved the blades a fraction away from his face, one blade shot off from its owner's nose like a pistol and pierced through his right cheek and continued out through the back of his mech.

“Gah!” Fred threw the entire shield off into the sand as blood ran down his face. The quintuplets began prying themselves off the shield so Fred took the opportunity to raise his fist and launch another exploding coconut at them. They were launched away by the explosion again as they cartwheeled away on the 4 remaining blades. They circled around Fred Giving him a wide berth. He realised too late that they weren't looking for an opportunity to attack but rather making their way to the lost blade. He launched several more coconut bombs but they managed to scoop up their blade and reattach it in time to get out of dangers way.

Fred decided it was time to stop being reactive and go on the offence. His mech could move very fast when it needed to. Fred leaned forward and began to sprint. The poor footing on the sand slowed him down but this was true for the Quintuplets as well. Fred launched his last pair of shoulder coconuts at them and then as they dodged out of the way he swung his arm around above his head. A flail made of several coconuts tied to some jungle vine extended from his arm and with a well-time swing, he brought it down on the left leg quintuplet. There was a sickening crunch as the coconut flail landed, killing it out right. The remaining Quintuplets (now Quadruplets) spun and aligned themselves to point both arms in Fred's direction.

“Oh, Shiii…” Fred exclaimed, trying to dodge down and right at the last moment. He managed to escape one, but the other hit him in the left shoulder and passed cleanly through him. “AHH SCIENCE I HATE YOU GILLED BASTARDS!” He screamed in pain, kneeling down.

He released his flail, got up and started to chase after the now mostly disarmed Quadruplets. They were flipping away slowly on their two remaining blades. He reached up over behind his head and pulled his sword off of its holster on his back. Well, he called it a sword but it was more like a surfing long board with a handle and several sharpened seashells lining the edge. Despite its strange appearance it was razor sharp and would slice through flesh like a hot knife through butter.

He leapt the last few metres and brought his blade down. The Quadruplets became twins as a clean slice cut the head and left arm in half. The last two fell down into the sand and tried to line Fred up for a last chance shot. Fred anticipated it and kicked the head off target. The blade shot uselessly into the sand. Fred stomped down on them and held them under foot as he brought his blade up and slammed it down twice, once for each remaining head.

“Raaaaaaaaarrrrrggggggg” he screamed down at the body.

From behind cover in Fred’s workshop, Sonia peaked over at the crazed Scientist, thanking the sun that he wasn't a fish.