Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

She was hesitant at first, the offer seemed to be too risky and dangerous for it to be considered a job with “all the benefits included”. However, they vaguely mentioned it was just an operation but with her role in investigating the estranged, new planet. It gave her the motivation in wanting to crack the case bigger than her previous work.

It wasn’t all bad as she gets to go on this mission with four of her closest lifelong friends who had their own or similar jobs for this mission.

Ina had her role as an archeologist and biologists of sorts to study the alien wildlife in the alien planet and their unknown organisms needed to be studied. Amelia knew about her… extensive background but she could trust her with this task as she’d be viable in order to understand what lives in it.

Kiara was the only one licensed to pilot the Seamoth, Prawn Suits and even the Cyclops (although it required three people in order to be operated) so she would do most of the dangerous and dirty work.

Calli, similarly to Kiara has license and training with machinery as she is involved in specialized missions in dangerous areas hence her expertise in heavy machinery or vehicles.

Gura, with no professional background but due to her biology as a shark and being able to swim and breathe underwater without an oxygen tank, convinced the higher ups to tag her along for the mission but for Gura it was mostly to be with her friends.

Having dinner with her friends at the cafeteria and joking about how bland the nutrient bars tasted and how the coffee was practically cardboard flavor no matter how much sugar Gura added to the cup.

“Food, here fucking sucks like who even eats this shit?!” Kiara complained as she took a bite of the nutrient bar.

“What did you expect it to be, a fine cuisine or something? It’s not like we’re going to have lobsters for dinner!”

“But I’d rather have that than some sort of nature valley’s looking bar!” Calli rolled her eyes at Kiara’s whining over generic, bland food products/service.

“So dramatic…”

Ina was too wholly consumed by the limited data about Planet: 4546B displayed on her personal PDA tablet oblivious to the conversation going on around her.

Gura who abandoned the idea to drink the cardboard-tasting coffee and set her sights to the detective next to her who seemed lost in thought. She looked to her right, Amelia who had a plate of bland meat that looked more like mushy gravy and a side of mushy pre-packaged mashed potatoes left untouched. The blonded looked deep in thought with a fork in hand, played with her food like no tomorrow.

“Ame!” The blonde shook her head as she turned to look at the shark girl.

“What?”

“I’m bored… Tell me something before the mushy food and these walls make my tiny head lose its mind”

“More like your tiny brain will turn to mush”

“I am BIG BRAINED thank you very much!”

“The only thing your brain is big for is for your multiple brain concussions for you were dropped as a child” Gura gasped feigning shock.

“That was uncalled for!”

“But still…” Gura noticed a slight hesitation from the blonde to which she wanted to ask, “What’s up?”

Amelia glanced and then sighed as she didn't see a point of not sharing her thoughts, “Isn’t this kind of dangerous? Wandering into a planet we know nothing about and especially out of all of us. I’m like the most susceptible to anything-“

“That’s ridiculous Ame! If anything you’re the safest person on this ship! You got me, Ina, Kiara and heck! Calli won’t let even mosquito get close to you!” Gura said earnestly but this earned the blonde not being amused as she shook her head.

“I really appreciate that but no amount of protecting will save me from a unknown disease” Gura groaned as she slumped and rested her head against her arm.

“There you go again with the specifics. You gotta stop worrying so much!”

“I know but you can’t rule out the possibility! Like what if this ship has like an engine problem and we crash-“

“I don’t wanna hear it! If anything happens, I’ll be there to protect you, okay?”

Amelia felt a sense of relief and trust from the shark girl being so reassuring despite her doubts, “Thanks Gura, that means a lot”

“I’ll always watch your back, stinky!” Gura placed her hand on the blonde's shoulder as they sat side-by-side.

“Calli! This water tastes weird!”

Calli wanted to reprimand her for being to whiny but then with a grind, she responded, “Maybe the lead water conspiracy is true”

“Ew GROSS!” Kiara recoiled as she pushed the water cup away from her.

Amelia and Gura could only watch in amusement and the blonde turned to her left looking over Gura's shoulder, seeing Ina so quiet and concentrated.

“Ina, you looked engrossed in the PDA” Ina then looked up and then around until her eyes landed on Amelia's it was then when she realized how much she was absorbed in reading.

“Sorry, I was just reading about Planet: 4546B”

Gura looked at Ina dumbfounded, “The Planet wha- Sounds like something you’d read in a barcode at a supermarket”

Ina continued, “The data looks classified but it seems like it’s a planer devoid of land and mostly made up of water where most of life is aquatic”

“Gura, looks like we found your family” Amelia chuckled at the idea of Gura swimming around with sharks that in her imagination, was Gura's family.

“Very funny, Watson” Gura said with sarcasm at Amelia’s lame joke.

The next moment she was inside of a lifepod after the Aurora was about to crash after inexplicably suffering damage as the ship was entering orbit into Planet: 4546B. Before Amelia could look up through the window of the hatch to observe what potentially caused the explosion until a metal debris that came off the wall struck her on the head.

She woke up to an alarm and a fizzling sound and it wasn’t until she finally opened her eyes and could feel a pain on her head that she looked to her left and saw a fire threatening to destroy the hull of the lifepod. She quickly got out of her strapped chair and after a brief panic, she took out the fire extinguisher from the wall and put out the fire.

After checking for her PDA which miraculously still worked, she set her sights to the outside wanting to know where she was on this unknown planet she crashed landed into.

Two things came into her mind.

The Aurora looked like a mess, especially with the hull exposed and the amount of fire.

There was water.

Everywhere.

She looked all around her till she faced the Aurora once again, nothing but clear blue sky water stretching miles and miles on end until it was one with the sky.

“Hello?”

“Anybody?”

“HELLO!”

It was pointless not even with her own eyes could she see a nearby lifepod. They must have been deployed before the explosion or crash. Amelia’s mind started conjuring up the worst scenarios but quickly shrugged it off as she was hopeful that her friends made it out safe and sound. She just had to find them or the other way around and find her first.

“Shit, the radio doesn’t work…” She looked around as she immediately noticed due to the only source light coming from the sun illuminating down at her from the hatch above her.

There was absolutely no power in her lifepod, probably damaged upon impact since she was out cold before the lifepod landed on the water.

Two flares, Two water bottles and Two nutrient bars.

“That’s awfully convenient” She muttered under her own breath, remembering the conversation she had about the one bar they so despised. But right now, she wished her friends were here at least during this hell.

A fabricator but without any resources, she couldn’t really do anything with it at the moment so she set her sights back to the hatch above her as she went back to climbing out of her lifepod onto the roof.

One had a glowing yellow ring which she concluded was its eyes. Another had a fan-like shape while its body was almost a transparent purple.

It reminded her of the coral reefs from tropical beaches around the world. It was oddly calming with the familiarity and the sun lighting up the reef. At least so far nothing was out to get her other than the need to breathe.

“I wonder…” She looked at the limestop sticking out of the rock, using her fire extinguisher she struck the metal against the limestone which broke the outer layer and out came a merge of tiny rocks morphed into one ball.

The PDA suddenly spoke with it’s robotic tone, “New material discovered: Titanium”

The PDA spoke, “Titanium is commonly used in advanced manufacturing and equipment production. Can be used to create tools, structures, and some types of vehicle components.”

“I knew it had something to do with that”

“If I can make an oxygen tank, I can swim farther and hopefully find my friends”

The oxygen tank proved to be efficient while it didn’t last more than a few minutes. It was still enough to keep her underwater for a longer time to explore the reef. Also helped by the fact that she was already wearing the diving suit as protocol as she found out. They clearly arrived in ocean filled planet.

She ran into another issue.

Storage.

Collecting the bright purple acid mushrooms, coral plates and more titanium and some copper. Her body felt heavier by the amount she was carrying until she could no longer store the resources she was carrying on her arms and it didn't help that she had to resurface every couple of minutes to breathe and refill her oxygen tank which made this process more of a pain in the ass if anything.

After a few minutes later reorganizing with the storage unit in her lifepod and some crafting. She sorted out her solution while also acquiring some new tools that seemed that would benefit her.

A survival knife.

The tiny weapon itself being the exception as said by the PDA Alterra prohibits the manufacturing and distribution of deadly weapons.

A repair tool.

PDA voice added,

“Suggested applications: Repairing damaged life support systems. Restoring mobility to aquatic vehicles. Minimizing structural failure in underwater habitats. Warning: Does not repair emotional damage.”

Amelia rolled her eyes at the remark as she then set her sights to the broken radio, knowing that the Lifepod had no power.

“I wonder…” Regardless, she then got up to the broken radio and got to using the repair tool as she watched the item work its magic as it realigned and replaced the electric wires.

A few moments later, the whole Lifepod lit up as the systems went back online. She immediately noticed that the radio turned on and which she felt hope that if she sent a distress signal hopefully Alterra back home would send help to them or anybody that could still be alive be alerted to her presence.

“Hello?!” She was hoping that someone, anyone would just say something.

Nothing came. Literal radio silence.

Once again her hopes dwindled if help was coming but the possibility of any of her friends were alive. But she once again concluded they might as well suffer power failure if their own lifepod landings weren't as smooth sailing like hers or worse.

She saw a tiny wreck nearby and upon closer inspection saw some metal salvages surrounding the tiny structure of possibly a broken piece of hull from the Aurora.

She wanted to venture further until the reef changed into green tint and was replaced by the sight of creep vines that stretched from the seafloor to almost touching the surface. Moreover, the creep vine themselves contained glowing yellow seed clusters which illuminated the whole biome as if it were a festival. Amelia almost forgot to breathe from her oxygen tank as she was mesmerized by the beauty of it. Peepers, Hoverfish, Boomerang, Bladderfish swam at a distance or past her as this area was blooming with life just like the more reef-like environment of the shallows were she came from. For once innate curiosity came over, she wondered what kind of life thrived on this planet, assuming so far all she's seeing is the vast ocean and what organisms make the entirety of this ocean wildlife.

"Thirty seconds of oxygen left..."

The blonde got startled and frankly jumpscared by her PDA alerting her of the limited of oxygen left and quickly surfaced to breathe and regain oxygen. Not even an hour in and this was starting get annoying if she has to deal with oxygen problems later down the line if this was going to be the circumstances she had to live... for now. She hoped.

For Amelia though, it looked kind of creepy especially by the drastic change of scenery. It was then she heard a snarl. The creature looked about her size with baby blue and purple skin with a thin but outstretched mouth which was made worse when it opened and showed rows of sharp teeth. Without hesitation it charged at Amelia, the blonde in turn screamed, replaced with bubbles coming out of her oxygen mask as she started to swim away.

She went through a narrow hole that led into a cave and quickly looked behind her. The creature slowed down upon noticing the hole was too small for it to swim through to get to her. With what seemed a frustrated snarl, the creature then turned around and swam away into the distance.

She noticed a flower-like surrounding a hole on the wall of the cave and upon inspecting a yellow ring then lit up from the hole. Which then revealed a puffy, round red fish coming out of it which for Amelia watching it struggle to get out was kind of amusing

“Hey little buddy” The fish then came out and started charging at her aggressively as it made an awful noise.

“What are you doing- AH!-” She tried to swim away but it was already in front of her when it exploded.

Her body ached in pain as she tried to swim back to the surface, feeling the oxygen tank on her back heavier than usual due to both the pain and exhaustion washing over her.

. . .

PDA spoke,

“Injury detected. Localized burns sustained. Administer first-aid immediately.”

Amelia noticed the medkit fabricator, struggling to get it open, she saw the medkit store inside of it to which she picked up and put it down on the floor for her to administer.

PDA spoke,

“Reminder: Stay cautious when exploring unfamiliar terrain. Hostile fauna detected in the vicinity.”

“Geez, couldn't you have told me earlier before I got kamikaze-d by a fish” Amelia responded sarcastically as she removed her diving suit to check on her injuries, while there was no cuts, she could feel the stinging sensation of burns from her arms and especially on her chest.

“That was dangerous… surely the others made it out… right?” Her pessimism seeped in, but her optimism wanted to convince herself that her friends were strong and capable of surviving through harsh conditions with their own set of skills and specialties. Heck, Gura can breathe and swim underwater so if she (hopefully) survived, she’d have the easiest time adapting. She did learn one thing.

Don’t trust the fauna in this planet. Even if they’re cute.

PDA spoke,“Lifepod distress signals detected. Signal strength: weak. Data corrupted.”

She stumbled upon herself as she grabbed the PDA, showcasing a range of an approximate location of another lifepod, one of her friends.

She wasn’t alone.

“I have to make it there-” Amelia noticed her oxygen tank upon inspection, was damaged from the ‘explosion’.

She needed to make another one but thankfully she was already hauling resources before that.

"Analysis indicates a high risk of injury or predation from extended aquatic travel. Suggested solution: Develop a Seaglide propulsion device. Blueprint fragments may be located in nearby wreckage sites."

PDA spoke,

“The seaglide will increase your effective exploration range. For your safety please pack supplies for long journeys, and always stay within 5km of the nearest lifepod or habitat.”

“Great, I just to find the blueprints I need to make one” She mumbled as the looked over the storage in the lifepod, picking out the titanium to construct a new oxygen tank.

The idea was simple. To find them and it would make this hell a bit more tolerable with manpower and emotional support.

“Whoever you are, I’ll find you. Just hang in there for a little longer”

She would take anyone at this point. However, deep down in her gut. She longed for Gura the most as bad as her jokes were. Amelia definitely needed one right now.

Chapter Text

Gura was surprised that they had a drill on the same day as they were going to land on Planet: 4546B.

Until she realized that in fact it was not a drill and the Aurora got blown into bits. Gura, was currently inside of a lifepod falling from the sky into god knows where.

Her body propelled forward only to be yanked back by the seatbelts. The back of her head smashing against the wall, made her a bit dazed.

Her eyes opened to the sight of red, a dark but present light in solace. The shift in gravity caused her weight to shift to the right. One thing became clear wherever she landed on, the lifepod was tilted and resting on its side. Upon unbuckling, her body fell to the wall with a metallic clang.

She heard a fizz, like water leaking and spraying. She looked around until she saw a hole that was leaking the outside ocean water into the lifepod she was inside of.

She opened the storage only to find a survival knife, and an oxygen tank. Things that were pretty much useless when she thought about it. The water was already rising, touching her feet as she felt how cold it felt in contrast to her tight diving suit clinging onto her skin.

As soon as her gills registered the water, immediately cringing at the sudden salty water registering on her gills. Gura’s body shivered at the sudden spike in salt on her skin and the arctic-like temperatures of the water brushing her skin.

Not that she wasn’t accustomed to but more rusty in being so long walking with her legs on land. She forgot what once was the familiar feeling of the waters she and her biological aquatic life came from.

Seeing below how the floor hatch was pinned to the ocean floor. Gura opted for the overhead as she could see the surface of the water where she was standing. After a bit of struggle as she learned how the hatch doors worked otherwise she would’ve just tore them apart with her bare hands. She then was met with a rush of the same cold and salty water, this time enveloping her whole body once more as she swam away from the lifepod.

The scenery was murky. Her eyes registered the tall, standing but waving amounts of kelp stretching from the floor to almost the literal sky but underwater. The seagrass and vegetation alike made the environment and water alike to be a color template of seaweed wherever she looked. Behind her she saw how the lifepod was pinned to its side, damaged by the impact of crashing onto a mountainside of rock. Not that it was her problem anymore as she was alive and got out of there safe and was unaware to what the shiny metal would attract certain fauna to it.

Gura turned back to the strange and creepy vibe of the biome she was currently in until it registered to her.

Her tail swished from side to side, not feeling being weighed down by gravity but instead floating. Her eyes set on the distance in front of her. The water, illuminated by sun rays, the shadows of kelp and rocks alike.

She then took off with a flick of her tail, the water drag hitting her face and a burst of bubbles forming in trail behind her as she went full speed. A tight to right, her body responded in kind as she flew like a rocketship. A turn to the left as she dodged an incoming wall of rock.

Gura laughed with glee, replaced with bubbles coming out of her mouth. Then she looked at the surface like the sky as if she were flying. She then faced the surface, the glare of the sun temporarily blinding her but it didn’t matter to her. She then put as much force to her tail right before her head broke the surface. With a big breath as she breathed in the air as she momentarily was airborne. Gura then noticed the sight of the burning Aurora, her temporary euphoria turned into shock. Then, realizing she was falling back to the water, her arms and legs were flailing right before she fell flat onto the water. Gura, being surprised by the sight, stuck her head out to inspect the ship once more to confirm she wasn’t just imagining it.

“What the-“ A wave of water came over her face which she then had to cough out.

Before she could think about the implications of herself and everyone else’s situation and survival. She heard a roar echoing from below and it didn’t sound at all friendly.

She then smacked her head to get a better look at the situation below to the possible source of the noise. Her eyes registered below, still seeing the same old kelp forest that were a few meters below at their grandiose height.

Then she saw it, a fish but not a fish more like a barracuda. Color-coded light blue and hints of purple, it had its mouth open, showcasing its sharp teeth as it swam up towards her. Gura immediately dove and headed opposite of the creature.

The biome started to change but it was the last thing Gura was thinking about as she got as close as possible to the sand in order to confuse her pursuer. The terrain switched from sand, seagrass and kelp. To a crimson tall grass and piles of glass scattered, hidden under the patches of grass. The grass then cutoff to sand back again to which Gura had an idea as she stopped and turned around to see if it was still following, trailing behind her. As Gura suspected, there it was swimming towards her brushing past the grass as it got closer.

When it got close enough, she grabbed a handful of sand. Gura flung the pile of sand, the grainy texture forming a cloud onto the Stalker’s path right before it etched on its eyes. The Stalker roared in pain as it shook its head side to side to try to get rid of the sand. Gura chuckled as she then waved it goodbye and swam away only for her to hear the same roar again. Low and behold looking behind her, it was back again still pursuing her.

“Ew, get away from me you freak” Gura dove trying to lose the Stalker who kept persisting in making her a five star course meal.

A loud audible groan then disrupted the chase as Gura halted as did the Stalker as it noticed it acted differently. The creature then turned, Gura could its side of the Stalker’s body. Its head was still looking at the shark girl but with that it faced its tail and swam away.

“What was that for?” Gura said confused but had a different matter to pay attention to.

What was the noise and what caused the Stalker to cower and swim away in fear.

The audible groan vibrated all over her body. She then turned to the source and then saw it. Looming over her was that she could only compare it to a whale. Gura watched as its tough shell and tentacles stretched hundreds of feet. Enough for it to potentially fit on a football field. Its noticeable feature being the life-like coral reef set on its back on top of the whale/tentacle-like creature.

“You saved me there” Gura in truth spoke to no one but wanted it to seem like she was talking to the giant creature.

She recognized the low hum almost like it listened and was currently responding to her comment. Gura mimicked the hum, although her voice was too high pitched to make it sound equally as low. The Leviathan responded in kind with another hum and this time Gura sensed that it was directed at her. Gura chuckled as she then responded with a whale-like call this time although she wasn’t sure if she was doing this communication thing right.

She swam up to the enormous giant, her hand gently touching the barnacle scaly skin as she caressed the rough texture.

“You’re not gonna eat me, right?”

The Reefback responded with a short but powerful groan.

“That actually makes sense” Gura laughed right before she felt the Leviathan move against her, almost getting Gura off balance as she swam a bit of a distance away.

“Hey! You can’t just push me! Not after you saved me from getting filet-d!” Gura went up to it and smacked her tail against the rocky texture only for her to be pushed by its sheer size once more.

“Okay, fine. I’ll let you go on your way” Gura finally swam out of the way as then with audible hum, presumably bidding her goodbye as she watched it slowly swim past her.

“Bye Mr. Whale” Gura waved and was met with a final hum.

“I guess not all of them are aggressive and out to get me…” Gura talked to herself before swimming away in order to find clues of her missing friends.

Gura felt kind of hungry after all the adrenaline induced swimming and from being chased. Her eyes scanned for the fish passing by nearby and far-alike. After all she had good eyes for this kind of stuff or at least from what she tried to recall from her swimming days.

Her eyes were set on a school of fish consisting of; a bioluminescent green, blue, teal fish; A triangular head, blue fish with a single enormous eye with red fin on its back. A boomerang fish with yellow and blue patterns U-shaped fish with glowing blue fins on the edges. A green T-shaped fish with a violet glowing shade on its fins.

That’s when Gura saw that caught her eyes amongst the diverse cast of fauna presented to her in variety. A navy-dark shade of fish with a massive yellow eye standing out amongst the fish as it swam with relative speed in random directions. One thing she noted was how its mouth looked like a beak from a bird which looked funnier once it was front facing. Then she could feel her hunger rile her up as her eyes were dead set on her target, her tail and fins alike eager to feast on her meal as mouth even underwater began to salivate.

With the same or even fiercer will, she took off leaving a trail of bubbles disrupting the flow of water as she charged at the clueless Peeper fish but then started to swim away with its speed once it noticed the predator’s chase.

The Peeper’s speed wasn’t enough to escape the shark, Gura was already catching up to her prey. She finally got her hands on a yellow eyeball-looking fish in one fell swoop. The prey squirmed at the grasp of the apex predator.

“I still got it” She exclaimed, proudly before biting down on the fish.

The texture was… meaty. Almost as if biting down on the egg part of the sunny side of the egg.

It only fueled her hunger and an instinctual desire to hunt especially after catching her first prey. She just can’t stop at that, wouldn’t she?

This time she caught another one and without thinking she bit down on it. This time the taste was bitter and metallic. She pulls back, looking down once more at the already bitten Peeper fish. Aside from its bulging yellow ring eyes and black scales. Something that stood out immediately was the faint green glow that looked as if someone plastered paint over the flesh.

Gura let go of the corpse in disgust, swimming to put some distance between her and the already sinking flesh.

“Note to self, don’t eat weird gooey stuff”

She kept following the sandy slope, descending into dimmer waters. Aside from very brightful corals catching her eyes as they stood out with the glow in the shade of less sunlight. The biome looked dead mostly composed of lifeless rock and sand that stretched for hundreds of feet to where her eyes could see. At that moment she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Set on the ocean floor as it somebody built it on the sand, a suction of current was sucking in the water in a vent-like structure built out of what Gura could only describe as weird emerald metal.

She saw Peeper fish come out of it, and swam away like nothing happened. She looked back at the vent structure, only for it to be blocked off by a cell that could barely be the size of her fist through it.

It was there at that moment where something felt… off. Gura immediately looked around and saw the boomerangs, peepers, reginalds, spadefish and even the sandshark changed their behavior similar to back when she saw the Reefback. Except this time they all swam away in a hitch as if they were caught in headlights. The surrounding area filled with abundance of fauna was now almost lacking thereof. Despite looking around and seeing nothing outside of a group of Reefbacks far in the distance. Her body still had that heightened awareness as if something was wrong and she should immediately flee. She hid behind a rock and corals, her nose and ears vibrating much louder as she finally heard it.

A distant roar.

It wasn’t as deep or friendly like her new friend, “Mr. Whale” made it out top be. This one was threatening with a violence that she didn’t even know she was capable of feeling despite not seeing or encountering it. Her blood spiked as she felt her own body shake in fear for the first time since crash landing on this planet. Gura the shark who is considered one of the apex predators back on Earth was now the one being prey to the predator to the unknown of this oceanic planet.

She could sense a sudden shift in the current of the water, pushing against her. Luckily the noise of whatever giant fish lurking seemed to dissipate. Gura let out a sigh of relief as she leaned against the sharp texture of rock against her but she didn’t care not after feeling like she could be preyed upon for a second there.

If this was going to be her life for who knows how long. Unfortunately, the others weren’t as lucky as she was being gifted the ability to breathe and swim underwater and to prey on fish for food to survive. She put her hands to the side of her head as she contemplated, “Maybe if you use that “tiny-brain” of yours then you can find them” Gura internally monologued being reminded by Amelia’s dumb joke which came to backfire as she tried to rationalize her next move.

“Ah right your shark senses! Your nose, your ears! You literally heard the other creatures so… you can definitely hear the others”

Gura then swam into the distance just blindly going into one direction in hopes of running into them using her sharp senses that can detect from hundreds of meters.

Chapter Text

Amelia built a scanner thanks to acquiring the titanium, acid mushrooms and copper for her to make the copper wire for a battery with the acid mushrooms. A scanner was built on the fabricator.

PDA spoke, “The scanner, is essential for scanner essential fauna and flora of this world and other applications”

Amelia with her newly built oxygen tank got back to work as she dove again back to the same wreck she saw before a certain fish ruined her day.

She saw the piece of what looked like a tiny fan or flashlight depending on how she looked on it. Regardless she took out her scanner and let its light scan all over the wreck as it took its time analyzing and acquiring data.

PDA spoke, “Acquiring new PDA data, Seaglide”

“Perfect”

She returned to the lifepod which she would have to make it her temporary base for now before she did anything drastic. Amelia sat down on the chair as she looked at the PDA for the Seaglide blueprint.

“Titanium, battery copper wire…”

“And a lubricant” Amelia sighed, not only does she have to go through another trip to the kelp forest she saw earlier. But also get more titanium to build another waterproof locker dedicated to lubricants. She was honestly getting tired of not only having to build one every few seconds, it piles up floating all around the lifepod. Also the fact that she has to sometimes blindly guess what the hell she stored in them right before checking the names she put for them made her life a bit easier.

With an arduous journey of having to deal with ice cold water and potentially anything that tried to harm her, she reached the unsettling biome of the kelp forest. Not that it had anything wrong with it but the uncomfortable feeling of the unknown of venturing outside the contrast of comfort in the shallows she was getting slowly accustomed to. Yet, this is the most she’s ever gone from a swim in her entire life.

She would definitely agree that this definitely suited someone like Gura. Being a shark and all. She must feel lucky having to go around without worrying of getting oxygen every so often.

Amelia was cutting off pieces of the creepvine kelp while also cutting and hauling the creepvine seed cluster. Its bright yellow glow temporarily blinded her as she stacked the seeds onto the floating locker.

She saw the Stalker and in a panic she tried to swim away but it was already within a few feet. She took out her survival knife and she still had a sees cluster on her other hand that she hasn’t stored yet. Amelia noticed how the Stalker was fixating its eyes to the bright seed cluster as it tried to chomp it with its sharp teeth. Amelia pulled it back only for it to be drawn by it as it tried to bite it. Amelia saw this as confirmation as she moved it left and right and the Stalker kept following her movements. She then dropped it, the glowing clusters began sinking and the Stalker as she predicted, dove to follow it. Amelia seeing the opening as the Stalker was temporarily distracted, she left with her own collection of seed clusters in the locker on her hand.

The seaglide was constructed, the object being almost as big and wide as her face. When she grabbed and felt the weight presumably the battery that was needed to power it.

She felt hungry, all the swimming, carrying the oxygen tank on her back and her physical exertion in breaking and getting resources. Proved to be taxiing to her feeble human body. Amelia was chewing on her second and last nutrient bar that she had as a food source. She knew what it meant in terms of her survival. She’d had to rely on hunting and eating fish which would prove difficult with the weighted gear she had to carry making it impossible for her to be as fast to catch up to prey.

Her dread increased with each bite and the bar dissipating into her stomach. She shook her head, looking up at the hatch on the ceiling watching as the sky already started to have an orange tint mixed with the blue. She was running out of time before nightfall arrived.

Feeling energized from the nutrient bar, she once set out to locate the distress signal now with her newly acquired seaglide.

Upon turning it on, she felt herself be dragged by it like a rope being tied to a boat. Once she stopped and got a better grip of it, she once again turned it back on and the whole new level of speed was overwhelming. She felt more confident in the trajectory as she navigated over the sand, rocks and corals below her.

She found the lifepod, resting on its side.

This was bad news for Amelia.

Made worse upon closer inspection she found a hole burying through the hole to the inside. Her kind panicked on the off chance that it wasn’t Gura that was already ¼ chance. They would’ve struggled to make it out not when the water was coming in from the outside.

The more her mind rationalized and kept thinking the worst. She momentarily panicked as her oxygen tank started depleting at a faster rate as the bubble of her exhales kept brushing against her face from the mask.

There were no signs of a body. Which meant that they definitely made it out or at least attempted which she shut her mind off at that last part.

She looked around, they had to be at least nearby. After all she doesn’t remember either Calli, Kiara and especially Ina being good swimmers.

Disregarding Gura for a second she had to assume it was the non-aquatic kind as the worst case scenario.

So she searched around the nearby area. Nearby caves, the surface, scanning the sand in case they were hard to spot. They wouldn’t likely be carrying an oxygen tank seeing how the sunken lifepod meant that it had power and the fabricator would prove useless.

She even ventured onto a huge wreck sitting on the ocean floor and of course upon closer inspection and seeing the narrow opening into it. It was too risky to swim in and potentially lose her way and run out of air. So she opted out of that.

There were also other close calls, below her burrowing out of the sand, came out a sand shark. It’s erratic behavior and jaws coming towards her and swiftly dodge to the right as it then kept on swimming into the distance until it got tired and went back down to burrow into the sand.

“Thirty seconds of oxygen left…”

“Can you not?!” Amelia yelled to particularly no one being frustrated at the prospect of being reminded during a stressful situation.

Even if she wanted to find them as soon as possible. She should prioritize her well being first. It would be futile for her to die trying after all. She had to be well equipped with resources in order to execute a search and rescue.

It didn’t take long during her search by scanning the ocean floor to find more wreckage but this time it looked different.

If anything it looked like remnants of an alien ship but she knew better based on what she’s heard from Calli and Kiara being more specialized in machinery. She took out the scanner and let it scan from a few seconds until after a while it finally registered.

“Data acquired, Seamoth”

She looked at her PDA displaying a miniature submarine-like vehicle.

This was a huge step compared to the seaglide. Of course it was much faster in transportation but it still had that problem of both getting oxygen and storage since she still needed to carry it by hand.

The seamoth eliminated both of those problems by having to sit inside without worrying about air, storage or being sneaked up on by a predator. It was worth the resources she had to acquire.

Amelia was cut off as she felt something bite her leg, she recoiled and looked down to find a tiny red fish. It moved away only to then come back to try to bite her again. This time to her face, Amelia quickly reacted by hitting it with the scanner which prompted it to scurry away.

“These fish are so aggressive no matter the size. I guess they’re really about equality on this planet, huh”

She believed she saw quartz scattered all over the red grass biome Amelia found the seamoth fragments earlier. She went on to carry a metal salvage for titanium only to be pursued by a Stalker when she crossed into the kelp biome. To which she temporarily blinded it with the scan light from the scanner.

“Data acquired: Stalker”Amelia heard from the PDA as she raised the scanner to see that it registered a whole new creature’s database.

“I guess it wasn’t kidding it can scan anything”

“The unknown signs of infection suggest increased aggression”

“Infection?”

”There are no records of this disease in our databases. Proceed with caution”

She looked around and then at her hands, then felt her throat. Amelia doesn't recall feeling ill or coughing an extraordinary amount. If anything feeling fatigued from the constant swimming and injuries sustained from her encounter with the crayfish. At the end of the day, Amelia chalked it up as some sort of aquatic specified disease like the kinda flora have their set of diseases to worry about.

She returned with resources for both the seamoth and vehicle bay to build it. Setting her supplies to the floating lockers that were turning the surroundings of her lifepod looking like the state of California.

She looked at the scanner and the data she’s collected:

Sea Glide
Stalker
Seamoth

She was intrigued by the diversion turned discovery when she used it on the predatory Stalker. The image zoomed in on a full body image of the creature. Reminded by its purple dorsal plates and familiar elongated mouth and serrated teeth sticking out.bShe found out that they only reside in the Kelp Forest. Made sense since both of her encounters were when she was surrounded by the towers of creepvine kelp.

She continued reading, the Stalker is attracted to shiny objects like metals. It also clarified when she used the seed cluster as bait. The main attention was on swiping onto the “Others” section.

• Data on tissue suggest a pathogen on the nervous system causing increased aggression and loss of fear.
• Infected shown to have a bioluminescent green glow all over their skin
• Long term effects unknown. Proceed to avoid contact with infected specimens

This got Amelia thinking as not only hasn’t it been mentioned once being up close to what was presumed an infected Stalker. But now it was thought to also be contagious if left uncontrolled. Then the worst thought came into mind.

“What if…”

Amelia, with the scanner, turned it to face her and with her finger on the button. The blonde shook as she kept hesitantly not wanting to press the button. Deep down, Amelia had to know for at least as reassurance but deep down she feared for the worst. She scanned herself, letting the blue light illuminate and scan her whole body. Then she turned the scanner around to look at the results. Then at that moment, her eyes widened and her breath hitched.

The lifepod echoed at the sound of metal ringing from a dropped object.

Her ears rung muffling the sounds of waves brushing the lifepod, nearby fauna coming across, the birds, the sound of the fabricator resetting every few minutes and her own breathing.

Data showcases massive signs of damage in the Aurora’s core. Explosion imminent in T-Minus, one hour”

——-

The mobile vehicle bay, the breeze hitting her from behind as she stood and shivering at contact. She had all the ingredients requested as showcased on the screen. With a click of a button, a bunch of tiny drones came out of the vehicle bay. The drones then emanated beams of light which then an outline of the seamoth started to manifest. The newly constructed seamoth then landed into and sank underwater. She went under to swim towards it as the machinery while being bland generic white texture it was still a marvel to look at the transportation up close like a alien spaceship from the future. Amelia got into the seamoth as the glass opened up for her to swim into the cabin right onto the seat. The glass then closed over her and removed the water from the inside leaving her wet but in a now dried up cabin. It was a miracle how technology like this existed to the mind of Amelia and she appreciated how much thought was put into it.

The PDA announced,

“The seamoth requires extensive training to understand the mechanisms and proceed with caution in going no further than 200 meter of depth and requires approval from Alterra and specified license-”

“Shut up. Don’t care” The last thing she wanted to hear was some talk about laws and Alterra licenses, not when she was in a live or die situation. She looked at the controls having absolutely no idea where to even start. Most of them didn’t even work since they took into account upgrades Amelia wasn’t even aware about. She’d probably have to check that out later.

She looked and saw what looked like a throttle that could be pushed or pulled up and down. That was definitely what gave speed to the seamoth.

It was nothing like a car as it could move in any direction like a spaceship and not glue to the ground where it could only turn left and right.

When Amelia crashed against some coral reefs with a loud metal thud echoing the shallow sea. She could hear Calli screaming at her in her ear while Kiara laughing her ass off in her other ear as if they were actually there. If only they were actually there to teach her how to drive a metal tube.

The goal was simple: get inside the Aurora and acquire data, the black box and resources and get out.

After only knowing the basics of applying throttle and using the steering wheel. Amelia was on her merry way to the Aurora which she raised the vehicle for her to see over the surface to make sure she was going in the right direction.

The shallows transitioned to deeper waters; the equivalent to a hillside was to her right while the ocean floor below her sank and changed from corals and greenery to crimson grassland. It confirmed as she saw below the occasional sand shark rummaging through the sand. Some of the Biter fish that she recognized that bit her earlier, she felt some grudge against the fish the size of her palm.

As Amelia kept on cruising, something strange caught her eye. While the ocean floor didn’t sink anymore but rather rose back to near shallow depths again. The scenery was just sand.

Everywhere she looked, to her left, hills of sand. To her right, dunes and some occasional corals here and there. She scanned over the surface once more and looking up surely there the Aurora was standing hundreds of feet looming over her. The scorching metal reminded Amelia of their lost ticket to her home. Nevertheless, she pushed on. Now being by the port side of the Aurora, following the hull towards the stern.

She was met by some wreckage and then she noticed the change once again to a Kelp Forest and then turned to the left to meet once again the dunes-like environment.

Except.

It got way murkier, like hard to see in front of her for a couple of feet. Amelia was sure it had to be due to build up of sand in the water as she squinted to hopefully see better and not run into something.

Amelia could briefly make out the structure of the nozzles to her left. If she were to be honest, she didn’t know where the entrance would be but at least she was at the back. All she had to was search for an opening and hopefully-

Until something paused her from her thoughts.

She heard a faint roar but due to the lack of visibility by the build up of sand particles in the water. Made it impossible for her to tell where it came from as she navigated around the back of the Aurora. The seamoth began to rattle and Amelia put her hands against both sides of the cabin as she held on from the shaking. The sensation felt like a non-stop earthquake.

“Aurora’s radioactive fallout will have devastating effects on alien ecosystem if not contained within the next five minutes”

“Five minutes? Shit… I took too long. Gotta hurry”

Then the glare from the sun disappeared almost like the whole world went dark but it was strange as she knew it was still day and the only thing that could possibly do that if something huge was blocking it.

Amelia looked above, the glare hitting her as soon as something moved right past her. Amelia’s eyes widened as she saw how the serpent-like body stretched from the blindspot of the windshield from left to right. She witnessed the clay textured U-shaped tail as she followed along its body to be met by crimson fins. Its head had two pairs of hollow eyes staring back at her as its jaws revealed its serrated teeth and the large two pairs of claws that accompanied it. It was a scene out of a nightmare, watching this creature bigger than anything fauna she’s ever seen being met face-to-face. Before she could react, her eyes were filled by an ear piercing roar that echoed the entire ocean. Her entire body shook to the core as goosebumps arose all over her skin and tears that threatened to spill by the overwhelming dread she felt at the moment.

Her hand reached for the throttle only for her back to be flung against the seat as witnessed the Leviathan grab her seamoth with its claws and jerk the hull of metal.

The seamoth then struck against the nozzle so fierce that the metal to her left folded to the inside. She then felt something pierce and impale into her torso, leading to her to scream in pain.

“HELP!”

——

Gura was on the verge of losing her mind. No matter how much she swam in one direction or another. She didn’t seem to find any semblance of a clue of any of her friends’ whereabouts.

It was starting to take a mental toll on her even though she would rather cope with humor or talking to the passersby fish who’d rather think about mating than talk to a humanoid shark.

“I swear if I see any one of them, especially Ame. I’m gonna-“ The scent of metal registered into her nostrils as her eyes dilated and her senses spiked.

“If that’s blood then that would mean-“

“Oh no…” She immediately turned around and as if she reached the speed of sound, the water blasted behind her. The sound of bubbles muted in her eyes as she moved her tail with as much force and speed as possible while trailing the scent of blood.

This is the most she’s ever exercised in her life. Surely in her early years she navigated underwater but it wasn’t so that she had to swim all out to traverse one location to another. But her transition to life on the land proved to be not quite the type to exercise and hence having very low endurance.

Her body ached in pain as she kept on pushing her tail and fins to its limits. One advantage she had was how she could get oxygen through movement into her gills as a shark. She swam over reefs, dove under and into miniature cave passageways. While also avoiding course collision with aquatic life both small and large. Her chest and all over her body was on fire even if she wanted to stop. Gura refused as every second she was slowing down it was wasted time for possibly someone in danger.

——

Amelia yelled as she put a hand over her stomach to try to cover off the bleeding on the massive gash. A quick reaction with her other hand, she pushed the throttle all the way. Surprisingly, the seamoth responded as it moved forward at full speed.

She heard the familiar roar, her head turning in all directions but could not see the Leviathan. That’s when she had the grim realization.

It was behind her as she heard it again.

The seamoth was at full speed so Amelia was sure that the machinery could out pace it even at its damaged state. That’s when her body jerked forward, crashing against the controls and once again she screamed as she pinned her stomach against it. She heard the noise of something scraping against the metal and then the seamoth began jerking again.

This time the warning alarm started ringing in her ears. While Amelia could do nothing but be dragged left to right. Before she could react or try to escape from its grasp, the hull compressed and in a flash then exploded.

Her body was in total agony not only from the bleeding wound but also the soreness growing from her limbs to the headache. Her vision was in between staying awake and passing out. Briefly seeing an outline of a U-shaped tail to her right.

She closed her eyes and then quickly forced them open, realizing that the Leviathan was circling around to get her. Amelia watched in horror as the predator reached out with its claws trying to catch but also eat her with its jaws wide open. Even if she wanted to move, her body didn’t respond, there was nothing she could do. All that was for her to do is accept her fate as she blacked out. Instead of an imminent violent grab or her limbs being crushed by the sheer force of its teeth. Another force she felt being grabbed and dragged so suddenly.

Gura finally made her own surprise as she looked at Amelia and saw that she had passed out. It would’ve been safe for Gura to assume that she had drowned sometime and it was too late but that wasn’t going to stop her from saving her. Gura did a quick pulse check, pressing her ear against her chest for a heartbeat.

To her relief there was a pulse but faint which got her to worry once more but there was a bigger problem at play. The Reaper was already swimming towards the pair, Gura responded by going up dodging its pursuit, keeping Amelia close with her arm around her waist.

Gura could’ve easily outswim the Reaper if it wasn’t for the fact that she had to carry and drag Amelia with her. This added weight slowed her down significantly, made apparent as she looked behind her and could see the hollow eyes staring right back at her. Right now Gura felt innate blood rushing through her veins, her heartbeat at its highest as her breathing uncontrolled. Seeing Amelia in agony and bleeding changed her mind of her anxiety.

She didn’t care what it was or if it was an apex predator.

This was her Ame. Nothing was going to take her away from the shark.

She dove through and under debris, stalling the Reaper in keeping some distance between them but it was still not enough to fend it off.

”Thirty seconds till detonation”

“What?!” Gura thought, the PDA coming from Amelia.

Gura could only guess that it referred to the Aurora but they were too close and even if she swam in the opposite direction as far away as possible. The Leviathan is still a constant threat and moreover with her carrying Amelia slowing her down, they wouldn’t make it far before the ship exploded.

If Gura could lure it as close as possible to the Aurora then maybe it could possibly cause damage by the aftershock.

She then got to work, swimming towards the port side of the Aurora. Occasionally looking behind her to make sure the Leviathan was following her.

Once Gura got close to the hull, she did a front flip, to face the Reaper. Then pressing her feet against the metal as the Reaper charged towards the pair. She could hear Amelia’s screams disguised as bubbles clearly panicking that they’re going to be mauled. Upon jumping off the metal a huge sonic boom blasted through the water, the shark girl diving below the Leviathan as it made its attempt to eat her. Looking behind her she saw the Leviathan had no time to react to the hull and before it could turn, crashed against the metal hull. Then it shook its head, turning around to face them as it gave out its bone chilling roar once again.

It was heard to see as they were still on the strange dead, sandy biome making Gura hard to see and her eyes irritated by the sand particles poking into her eyes.

5…

Gura was looking for anything to shield herself and Amelia from the explosion.

4…

They reached shallows but by then the Leviathan had caught up to the duo as it began to chomp down to try and catch them. Gura pulled Amelia under her before it could grab her by the legs. She wrapped her arms around her torso as if she was a seat cushion to keep her under.

3…

Getting deeper into the shallows as the roars were ever louder behind her. There had to be a cave somewhere small enough to squeeze in for protection but also for it to be impossible for the Leviathan to fit through.

2…

The Reaper Leviathan has its mouth open already dead set to close it around the duo. Before it could do that, in a flash Gura sharply turned upon spotting a nearby cave and dragging Amelia inside of it before the Reaper could reach them both.

1…

The Aurora then convulsed into flames as an explosion was felt in its surroundings. Suddenly the air pressure swept into the cave as Gura held onto a coral with one hand and the blonde’s still passed out body with the other.

After a few moments as the rumbling and pressure dissipated, Gura kept her grip as tight as possible against the stone walls. The silence came back only hearing a rush of water in her ears.

Gura peeked her head out of the cave and looked around and saw no sign of the predator. The coast clear, Gura relaxed and let go of the wall as she then felt her body become sore from what was the most physically demanding exercise she’d ever done in her life. She then with her grip steady on Amelia rose to the surface. They finally broke through her body switching between receiving oxygen from both her gills and mouth. Gura then made sure to use her strength in one arm to keep Amelia’s head afloat for her to breathe.

There was no way she could keep Amelia afloat like this for longer if she wanted for both of them to survive. Then it hit Gura as she remembered a certain peaceful giant friend she made recently.

“Mr.Whale!” Gura then started mimicking the hums and groans from the creature in hopes of getting the attention even if the ocean that stretched for hundreds of miles on end meant it would be impossible to know where it was.

She then heard it, the familiar hum rumbling all over her body. Her eyes gleamed with joy as she saw the familiar reefback approaching from below.

It rose up until its back rose out of the surface, carrying both Gura and Amelia on its back.

”Signs of blood loss, seek immediate medical treatment. Coordinates to nearest lifepod lie west around 300m”

“Head that way!” Gura tapped the reef surface while her other arm was pointing west where Amelia's PDA told her to go.

The blonde slowly opened her eyes, being met with the overlap of remnants of dusk and the layering of the night sky as stars were visible to her naked eye. It didn’t take long for Amelia to notice the figure looming over and next to her. The familiar white hair with strands of blue and that cute face she so admired but also knew was prone to also being a gremlin.

But why was Gura here?

Last thing she remembered-

That was right, she was trying to reach the Aurora before… that thing attacked her and then everything else faded to black.

“Gura…”Amelia mumbled, catching the attention of Gura as she noticed her blue eyes were open.

Gura ran but then kneeled over next to the injured blonde, “Ame! You’re awake!”

“Are we dead?”

“If we were. We’d be having a cookout with Calli and Death-Sensei” Gura joked, earning a mild chuckle from Amelia as she then clutched her stomach where she could still feel the massive wound and was still bleeding.

“Where am I?” Amelia could only see the darkening sky and wondered how they were floating above the ocean if it wasn’t Gura who was carrying her afloat.

“Onboard with Mr. Whale Express!” Gura raised her hand and waved as she was captain of a ship.

“Mr…. Who?” Amelia then felt rumbling on her back, beneath her as she heard a deep hum causing her to panic.

“Gu- AH!” Amelia tried to sit up only to be reminded of the sharp pain all over her body. She fell back but right before she felt stopping her from falling back.

Arms were wrapped around her torso, not so tightly that it hurt but neither that it was comforting. A healthy medium of pressure being applied by Gura in consideration.

“Geez… don’t scare my friend, Mr. Whale” Gura jokingly scolded the Reefback which hummed in response earning a mocking angry expression from the humanoid shark.

“Maybe you should take into account that you’re so loud. That’s probably why your cousin got eaten” Gura immediately cringed at the offensive and quickly backpedalled, “Okay, that was mean” The Reefback groaned in response, Amelia absolutely having no idea what was partaking right in front of her.

Gura then had a look of shock and intrigue, “What do you mean by infection? If anything whales can’t die by something so small” Gura then brushed it off and went back to looking at Amelia who just looked confused and exhausted. Gura then brushed a bang to the side, getting a good look of the face she missed and yearned so much to see. Her heart rushed at the joy of seeing Amelia again after such a tragedy and after almost losing her in what was a questionable thing for Amelia to do in seeing her in such a state.

“Why would you do that?” Gura said in a soft whisper almost like she didn’t even want Amelia to hear it as her head rested between her shoulder and her neck.

Gura didn’t know why Amelia recklessly threw her life away but she did. However, she didn’t even know if she should even mention the “why” part.

“It’s okay. I’m here now. I told you” Gura tightened her hold on Amelia fearing that she might disappear if she didn’t.

“You told me what?”

Gura leaned back, “I said that I would always be there to protect you” Gura said with a cheeky smile, Amelia despite having to live on the ocean in ice-cold water temperatures to do anything. For once she felt like her body wasn’t cold anymore.

The contrast with the burning sight of the Aurora standing out against the night sky. The stars were as bioluminescent as the crimson glow reflecting on the water through the clouds.

“That moon is huge!” Gura pointed up to the enormous crimson moon orbiting and covering the sky as if it were to land on the ocean itself.

“Yeah…” Amelia then leaned on Gura right before her body slid until it hit the rocky surface.

“Ame!?” Gura shouted right before she could see a lifepod at a distance,

——

Amelia woke up and could see the familiar sight of the white LED lights, the metallic ceiling and the see-through hatch followed by a ladder. She was back at the lifepod.

Not without noticing a certain white-haired a bit below when she raised her head to look down. She had a medical kit right beside her as she had band aid wrapped around her stomach where her wound was. Also the lack of a layer as she saw her diving suit located to her right on top of the seat, leaving her with a skin tight suit which was uncomfortable to wear but she didn’t have any other choice as it was her only clothing, same thing with Gura.

Gura saw that Amelia was awake and gave her a cheeky smile. Amelia tried to get up and like before she yelled in pain and fell back.

“Careful, just because I put band aid doesn’t mean it’s not gonna go away”

“Thanks for the tip” Amelia gae a weak smile while Gura reached out a hand.

Amelia understood the situation and with her hand took Gura’s and helped her sit up, and quickly with some assistance, scooched the blonde until her back was against the wall.

“Are you okay?” Gura put a hand on her shoulder and then another on the loose band aid she hadn’t glued to Amelia’s skin yet.

“Never been- BETTER!” Amelia yelled as she felt a band-aid pressed against her stomach.

“Couldn’t you have warned me first?!” Amelia gave Gura a glare as she exclaimed in between bated breaths.

Gura grinned like an idiot and responded, “So what? So you could be a pussy and stop me from doing so?”

“Fuck you, Gura” Gura laughed at that.

“Does it hurt?”

“What do you mean? Of course it hurts!”

“Geez… I’m trying my best here”

“Sorry… I’m just…”Amelia looked to the side in a pinch of regret for sounding rude.

“Don’t worry I have an idea! Stay put! Well… not that you canl move anyway” Gura chuckled, earning a middle finger from the blonde.

Gura then opened the bottom hatch where she could see her dive head first into the water and her tail disappear through it, leaving her alone.

Her skin felt dehydrated despite the icy layer of remaining water clinging onto her skin. The weather wasn’t any better as nightfall continued so did the temperatures fall causing her to shiver.

Her thoughts returned to the anxiety and dread she felt once more when she got separated from the rest. Now that she thought about it, she wondered how the rest were doing and definitely not leaning into the possibility of them being dea-

The hatch suddenly opened, revealing Gura climbing into the hatch fully wet. What was surprising was what was attached to the shark’s mouth: a dozen or so fish flopping, mostly consisting of Peepers.

“Ta Da! I got you some fish” Gura then set it on top of the fabricator and with a click of a button the machine did its work in cooking the fish.

“Here ya- GO! Ack! It’s hot!” Gura dropped the said cooked fish onto the floor as she jumped around and flailed her hand that had grabbed the hot meal a second ago.

The was bland with the lack of salt or pepper. Yet it was still freshly cooked and warm and its meaty substance as she kept downing on the flesh. Her body craved more of it, since it had been a while since she ate a nutritious meal since the generic nutrition bar she was already getting tired of.

“What about you? Aren’t you hungry?”

“Oh me? I’m just gonna eat em like how I found them… Do you want me to cook up another one?” Gura offered as she tried grabbing the lone Peeper but it kept jumping away from her until a few more tries and she grabbed the pesky fish.

Amelia wanted to act tough and say she wasn’t hungry anymore. Deep down she was starving and after a traumatic moment back there and the injuries she sustained. She felt exhausted and knowing Gura, she knew would want for her to be safe.

“Another one would be nice…” Gura responded with an earnest smile as she stood up and set the fish onto the fabricator.

“Ow…”

“Careful, those bones are sharp to the average Joe but for me it's nothing but dessert!”

“You’re crazy” She wondered how Gura can straight up devour raw fish but also eat them whole with sharp bones and cartilage like it was nothing.

“Says you with the whole suicide mission!”

“It wasn’t a suicide…” Amelia looked to the side not wanting to talk about it. Gura immediately regretted bringing it up but regardless she also had to risk her own life to save Amelia even if it meant coming face-to-face with an incomprehensible horror.

Gura kneeled down in front of the blonde, Amelia slowly raising her head to meet her eyes, “Hey…”

“I’m still mad about… what happened back there…”

“I was just so frustrated and scared of the idea of… losing you” Gura’s eyes were pretty much looking at the wall rather than the blonde.

“You could’ve just waited!”

“I couldn’t!”

“Why not?!” Gura’s eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“Because I’m-“ She almost slipped before composing herself, “-was lonely…” Amelia looked to the side almost like if she was shy to admit but to her defense it wasn’t totally a lie.

“Ame…” Gura raise hand to play with Amelia’s golden locks, the blonde leaning onto the touch not knowing how she needed it since trying to survive all on her own.

“I’m here now” Gura reassured as she rubbed a hand on Amelia’s back.

Gura felt the blonde lean into her more and that was the sound of breathing. The shark pulled back only to realize that Amelia in fact was fast asleep without any care. Amelia shivered didn’t help with the cold sensation of the metal touching her backside.

The shark girl shifted away from the shivering Amelia with a concerned face. Her worries were confirmed when she could hear her excessive breathing and shuddering. Gently, she lowered her until her back and head was against the floor, away from the wall. Then with some hesitation whether it was appropriate of her to do this or not. Laying next to her, she then wrapped her arms around her shoulders, her stomach where the wound was being off limits.

She could feel Amelia freezing up upon contact but seeing as she made no move to stop her. Gura continued as she wrapped her arms around her waist and pressed her body against her back, sharing her warmth. It took a few minutes for both Amelia’s shivering and breathing to eventually reach a half. Her breathing soft and her skin feeling warm as Gura continued to cuddle the blonde. Gura wrapped her tail around Amelia’s legs ensuring she was warm and protected as she said she would.

There were a lot things to discuss and assess to be mentioned but right now after a near death experience for the both of them. Right now all they needed is a good nights rest before dealing with all of that. Even if they have mountains or oceans in this case to travel in order to survive this whole ordeal. One thing was certain.

Both Amelia and Gura were not alone and they have each other to rely and lean on.