Time Fish

Moments after Weather Fish's death:

Time Fish’s eyes were bugging out of his head. The usually calm, white sunfish was swimming back and forth screaming when Gate Fish came to collect him. A working analog clock that looked like a tattoo but was actually made of black pigment stood out on either side of his body. It appeared to be glitching out, sometimes showing two times, sometimes flickering between one time and another, and most frighteningly, sometimes showing no time at all.

“Ugggh, more trouble,” the ever-moody Gate Fish sighed after appearing through his portal and spotting Time Fish, ”Hey, what’s wrong Time Fish?” he called out.

“What’s wrong?! Can’t you feel it?! Everything is wrong!!” Time Fish stopped swimming and screamed at Gate Fish, “Oh Goddess, how could this happen?”

“Calm down, jeez. Does it have something to do with Weather Fish?”

“What? Weather Fish? No… It’s time! Time has been ripped into two,” sobbed Time Fish. He resumed swimming back and forth.

“That sounds like a big deal,” Gate Fish sighed, his eyes following Time Fish swimming back and forth.

Gate fish cast a magic bubble to hold Time Fish in place, “Time Fish listen, Weather Fish is missing and there’s weird weather everywhere. Come with me to where the others are. You can freak out there and help them figure it out,” he said. Time Fish babbled incoherently and didn’t move so Gate Fish magically picked him up and flung him through the portal, following behind.

Several magic fish were already gathered on the other side of the portal. Among them, thankfully, was Mental Fish, a glowing white parrotfish. Gate Fish swam over and whispered into her ear. They both glanced over at Time Fish and Mental Fish nodded. She spat out her magic wand from within her body and cast a spell aimed at Time Fish.

Time Fish felt himself calm down, the built-up stress he’d been harbouring melted away. Even the clock motif on his body returned to normal. With a clear head, he could now see how panicking wasn't going to solve the problem, “Thank you, Mental Fish. You too Gate Fish,” he said, a wave of clarity washed over him while he processed what Gate Fish had said earlier, “Did you say Weather Fish is missing?!”

Gate fish closed his eyes tight and shook his head, “I’ll leave him to you, Mental Fish,” he said, then promptly teleported a couple metres away.

Mental Fish gave Time Fish a calming look, Yes, even Divination Fish can’t find her. She sent the words directly to Time Fish’s thoughts.

“That’s weird,” Time Fish said and looked around. He spotted the green glow of Divination Fish easily enough, “I’ll see if I can help, thanks again, Mental Fish,”

You’re welcome, She replied.

Time fish bowed and swam over to where an emerald anglerfish and a large barracuda made of iron were talking; Divination Fish and Metal Fish.

“Time Fish!” Metal Fish greeted, “Good, you’re here. Share your magic with Divination Fish. We need to look into the past and see where Weather Fish has hidden herself,”

“Hello to you too, Metal Fish,” Time Fish smiled at his bossy friend before turning to the other fish, “Hi, Divination Fish. After this, can I get your help figuring something out: Time has been split in two and I need to know how and where, so I can fix it,”

Divination Fish had stopped paying attention while Metal and Time Fish were talking and was staring deeply into the green light of her esca (the glowy thing attached to her head).

Metal Fish cleared her throat loudly.

“Huh, what?” Divination Fish asked, looking away from the light and blinking.

Metal Fish sighed, “Just cast your spell, Time Fish. We’ll figure it out later,”

Time Fish spat out his wand, a thin, red hand of a clock, and said the magic words, “Learn from the past!” with a wave of his wand. The spell’s original purpose was to remember things clearly as if they were happening in the present. Combined with Divination Fish’s power, they could see any event from the past, even those that had happened to others. It was a major breach of privacy, but fish care not for that kind of thing.

The three fish gathered stared into Divination fish’s esca. Mental Fish, Gate Fish and a few others swam over to get a look as well. They all watched in shock as Weather Fish’s final moments played out in front of them. The divination ended shortly later and the silence was deafening.

Divination Fish spoke, her voice sounding hollow, “The reason I couldn’t find her before was that there's nothing to find anymore. She’s gone!” She threw herself into Time Fish’s fins and wept.

The other fish weren’t keeping it together much better. Metal Fish’s inability to cry helped her take charge, “Gate Fish, go gather everyone. We’ll need to have a funeral before we decide what to do next,”

Gate fish looked ready to complain but Metal Fish gave him a warning glare. He got the message, nodded and left.

With that, the Magical Fish got to work preparing for their first-ever funeral.

Destiny Fish

Destiny Fish appeared through Gate Fish's portal between Earth to the home planet of magic fish, Siren. He was the last one to be collected, apparently. Including him and Gate Fish, there were now 20 magic fish gathered around an intricate stone coffin set upon a dais of coral - a tomb for Weather Fish.

The mood was heavy. Some fish looked sad, others confused, and more than a few looked like they were out for blood. Magic fish personalities were as varied as their powers.

Gate fish swam away, leaving Destiny Fish alone, so he swam up between Metal Fish and Kinetic Fish and bowed his head to the coffin.

"Oh, so you do care enough to come to her funeral.” Kinetic Fish, a red Arowana, snarked.

“Kinetic,” Metal Fish admonished, “Don’t take your pain out on him.”

“Whatever.” Kinetic Fish clicked her tongue and zipped away with enhanced speed.

“Don’t mind her, Destiny Fish. That's just the grief talking. It’s good to see you, It's been far too long.” Metal Fish said with a sad smile.

“It’s good to see you too, Metsy,” Destiny Fish said, using his nickname for Metal Fish, “I can’t believe it. Weather was such an… energetic chick. Do you know what happened?”

Metal Fish scowled, "She was murdered! Divination Fish and Time Fish looked into it and will tell everyone what happened later, but I asked them to wait until after the funeral. We should focus on remembering the great life she lived now, not stewing over her death.”

“OK, I understand,” Destiny Fish looked forward as tears rolled down his face.

The funeral began. Dream Fish, a rainbow-scaled groper, and Pain Fish, a black and yellow needlefish, led the ceremony.

“Weather Fish had a beautiful soul…” Dream Fish’s started, words drifting off.

“And it HURTS so much, knowing she’s gone. Today, let us share in her memory and let GRIEF overwhelm us!” Pain Fish screeched, picking up where Dream left off.

As it was their first funeral, it was a bit awkward. Pain Fish explained that loss is a new beginning, and Dream Fish explained how Weather Fish would live on in their dreams and memories.

After them, Music Fish sang a beautiful ballad titled, ‘The queen of weather’, that brought everyone to tears. The carp’s colours shifted with the music, making him a very dark fish today.

A few other fish who were close to Weather Fish spoke, and then, to finish the ceremony, everyone took out their wands and launched a spell upwards towards the heavens.

Destiny Fish didn’t speak at the ceremony. He had been away in self-exile for hundreds of years. Magic fish were generally too evil for his laid-back personality. That said, they really came together when looking out for each other. Now that he was back, swimming among his old pals, he realised just how much he had missed everyone. He was in tears the whole time as he did some catching up.

“How have you been, Destiny?” Time Fish asked, his eyes slightly glazed over, "You were gone for such a long tiiime."

“Dude, I’m so sorry, uhuuuu, it's hard to explain,” Luckily they were underwater or Destiny Fish's face would be a mess with tears and snot, “I-I-I *sniff* kinda just needed my own space, you know? I missed you guysss! Waahaaaa.”

“Awww, it's ok. We missed you too buddy, had Divination Fish checking in on you from time to time to make sure you were ok.” Yeti Fish, a hairy, white catfish, said as he patted Destiny Fish’s back with his fin.

"Guys I have a question, did any of you cast a spell that could have potentially ripped time in two?" Time Fish asked with a gentle smile.

Yeti Fish and Destiny Fish shook their heads, "Nothing that I can think of, why?" Asked Yeti Fish.

"Well, because time was ripped in two, obviously," laughed Time Fish.

Destiny Fish and Yeti Fish glanced at each other, "Isn't time splitting in two a big deal?"

"Yeah, a huge deal. I’ve been seriously freaking me out all day. I didn't want to ruin the funeral so I had Mental Fish pumping me full of some serious relaxation magic. If I don't find it and fix it maybe the whole universe will collapse when someone attempts time travel. I can't figure out how or where it happened, even with Divination Fish's power," Time fish smiled and glanced behind Destiny Fish, “Speaking of…”

Divination Fish swam over to the trio and greeted them, “Yeti, Destiny, good to see you both,” then she looked to Time Fish, “Shall we?”

“Yes, it’s time.” Time Fish excused himself, leaving the two he'd been speaking to behind feeling kind of confused and scared, and swam in front of Weather Fish's tomb with Divination Fish. The chatter of the fish died down and everyone turned to look at them.

Divination raised her voice for everyone to hear, “Everyone, it's time to discuss what happened to Weather Fish. For those of you who weren't there for the time-divination: She was killed on the planet Bryan, by members of the Smarty race.”

“Is that the race that thinks they’re making fish magic?” Narcissist Fish spat.

“Yeah them,” Divination Fish confirmed, “It was at the Smarty's annual invention convention when she discovered…”

Divination Fish was trembling, struggling to get the words out, so Time Fish took over, “They invented a weather machine.”

All the magic fish physically cringed at the same time.

“Daaaamn, dey actually off dem rockas! Weather musta went batty,” Virus Fish shook his head.

“Yeah, that’s one way of putting it. It was horrible. Mental Fish could you please show everyone the memory,” Time Fish asked.

Mental fish swam up to join them and projected what they had seen into the minds of all the other fish. The fish watched in silence as Weather Fish discovered the weather machine, went berserk, killed thousands, and then was torn apart by laser jets in retaliation.

“I have a question,” Destiny Fish called out, “they are called the Smarties, right? What do they call it when a Smarty is smart? Is it like… a smart Smarty?”

“Goddess above Destiny! What is wrong with you? Could you shut up and not make jokes about Weather’s murderers?!” Kinetic Fish fumed.

“No… I wasn’t…” he spluttered.

“Yes, they are called smart Smarties,” Metal Fish interrupted Destiny Fish’s panic, “It’s not right what they did. Just because she lost her temper a little and killed a few thousand of them, that's no excuse to do what they did to her. Her life was more valuable than theirs.”

“Are we really expected to believe that the Smarties didn’t premeditate her murder? They didn’t think of the consequences of flaunting a weather machine in front of her? Do they think we’re stupid!?” DNA Jellyfish said, glowing angrier and angrier with each sentence.

“I hate them,” Laser fish said, “How dare they turn my magic into a weapon to kill my friend. I’ll never forgive them.” her voice was cold.

“It’s Unnatural! Technology isn’t magic. Magic is for fish! They must be punished!” wept Normal Crawfish from under Virus Fish’s fins.

“That is not enough. I have a better idea.” A deep voice boomed out from the crowd of gathered fish. World Fish swam out in front of everyone. The eyes of the other fish grew wide. When World Fish had an idea, big things happened.

“Simply punishing them won’t be enough. No. They removed Weather Fish from the universe; so it’s only right that we remove them from the universe. I think our next course of action is a simple one. We eradicate every last Smarty in existence. Send a clear message to all the other races of the universe, magic fish are not to be trifled with. What say you, magic fish?”

Contemplative silence passed over the gathered magic fish as they considered the insanity of World Fish's suggestion. There were trillions of Smarties, spread out over several worlds throughout the galaxy. It would be a genocide of unprecedented scale for the sin of a single death.

Fish exchanged glances and smiles slowly grew wider and wider. As one, they all broke into cheers and shouted “THAT’S IT! KILL THEM ALL! FOR WEATHER FISH!!”