That Night:
"You sure you want to do this? I can… I can do this on my own you know." Ran asked while yawning. His eyes were already feeling pretty heavy and his sudden loss of energy did not help either. With the sudden addition of the rune formation, his energy had slowly started to deteriorate again.
Looking at the bags that darkened the area around his eyes, Ann couldn't help but feel hurt. Such a thing had happened as soon as he left her. She must NEVER allow something like this to ever happen again… EVER!
With teary eyes, she nodded her head. Thus, she had taken up the mantle of being his care sitter for the night. Seeing her weep a little, he patted her head softly, and showed his radiant smile again. This had inevitably put Ann off of her weep game. She smiled faintly as Ran proceeded to lay on her lap while she provided a steady stream of energy for him. That night, Ran had arguably the best night of sleep he's had in over three months.
His hearing had picked up on her breathing, which gave him a sense of safety and security. Her scent entered his nose and filled him with an explicable warmth that immediately made him more comfortable. The warmth seemed to wrap around his brain as it began ceasing a lot of its conscious activities. Yet, even while sleeping, he smiled faintly.
Yet, as Ran began to dream, he did not notice the silent tears streaming down from Ann's eyes. She would probably never forgive herself for this, even though it most certainly wasn't her fault.
When Ran opened his eyes again, he found himself in a familiar place. The Ocean! Inside El Castle De Coral, he stood in the very same spot where he had found the Giant Snakehead.
Surveying his surroundings, he found many eggs inside shells made of coral. Newly born fish could be seen curiously swimming about. When they noticed him, they seem to have noticed something. They ran away in fear, but the next second, they stopped and turned around. Seeing him just looking around curiously, they could not help but move closer. Their fish eyes shone with curiosity and decidedly checked Ran out.
Seeing fish swimming happily again, Ran was pleased. He was so happy he even sounded off a hearty chuckle which seemed to travel much farther than it should have originally. After having a good time laughing, he swam out and found that nearly every fish in the coral reef was standing… I mean floating in front of him; staring at him… with their eyes.
Yeah, what else are they going to stare at him with, their anal… fin? After all, fish don't have eyelids!
He was confused as to why they were staring at him, but then the newly born fish came out and began playing with him. The joyous atmosphere that suddenly sprouted had affected Ran a great deal. The fish would circle around him and play little fishy games with him. Ran was delighted to have more friends and ended up laughing; yet upon hearing such innocent laughter, the fish seemed to all breathe sighs of relief. Then they noticed something else, he was the one who had saved all of them just a month back!
Strange, it seems that something had clouded their judgement of him.
The fish seemed to come to some sort of consensus as they all swam towards him at the same time. Now, thousands of fish had ganged up on Ran and his figure could no longer be seen; yet the continuous joyous laughter proved his existence nonetheless. "Stop it, it tickles."
While Ran was enjoying such attention, he was suddenly sneak attacked by a fish. It smooched his face with its fat fish lips. "Oh gosh, not again! Why!? WHY!!! You-you…" the fish swam away quickly and a familiar scene could be seen happening all over again.
As Ran chased after the fish, they delved deeper and deeper into the coral reef. After about a minute of chasing the fish, Ran found himself in front of a big blue coral. It was tall enough that multiple people need to stack themselves to match its height. It was pretty girthy as well and is thick enough to match a fully grown tree's girth. Yet that wasn't the weird part.
At the top of this coral was actually a hole that clearly led somewhere. The fish entered the hole and beckoned for Ran to follow. The hole was actually big enough to fit a human inside snuggly. He followed it into the dark hole and slowly made his way through.
After moving through a couple meters of coral, he started moving through rock. While it was completely dark, his hands allowed him to feel his way through the hole. After going for a couple minutes, he felt the rocks slowly widen up. Continuing on, he finally made it and a huge open space greeted him. In fact that wasn't the only thing that greeted him.
The ground was made up of red sand and the space had an opening that let in rays of sunlight, making the sand sparkle through the water. The opening was big and with the sunlight, it showed that he was actually in a cave that wasn't at all deep into the ocean.
Yet the red sand wasn't the only beautiful thing in this cave. Blue crystals of all sizes filled the walls and seemingly served some other purpose. Yet, again, that wasn't what Ran thought was the most beautiful.
In the center of this wondrous cave was actually a woman! She was truly beautiful in Rans eyes. Ann was really beautiful too, but his relationship with her had made Ran become unfazed and accustomed to her beauty. Yet, with this scenic view, the cross legged woman seemed extremely appealing to his eyes.
The woman had long black hair that floated in the water like snakes. Her face had extremely sharp features that made her seem untouchable. Yet, she also had several protrusions sticking out from her back. Fins! Clearly, this woman wasn't human, or at least, not fully.
The fins were pitch black in color and she had three of them for each side of her back. "A Coelacanth!" Ran shouted out loud. He was keen enough to know that only Coelacanths have those leg-like fins.
"Correct." The woman opened her mouth and answered. She had already been facing him when she spoke and at this moment, she had opened her eyes. Black. That was the only thing that could be said about her eyes. They were pitch black like the universe; wrought with the experience of time.
"Child, why do you disturb my sleep? Granny is tired and needs rest. For what-" before she could finish her sentence, she had already made eye contact with Ran.
Those-those eyes… she thought. She got up from her cross legged position. An aura surrounded the entire cave in an instant and even the cave itself was rattled and shaking. Ran was instantly pressured into the red sand and could not, for the life of him, get up.
Blood mist began to consume the entire cave as it spread outward from the woman in waves. It was utterly suffocating for Ran and he felt as if it was stuffed into his very being; sapping all of his strength.
Ran immediately began experiencing a bout of fear, one so strong that he was on the verge of collapse. Truthfully, in just a few words he will, indeed, collapse…
Ding!
Rans eyes began to roll to the back of his head and froth emerged from all seven orifices. He completely collapsed and just layed on the bed of red sand; unmoving.
"Phew, glad I caught this bugger before it was too late. Luckily he was just a larvae, otherwise, who knows what would have happened." The woman wiped her head with her hand as if she had been sweating and then sighed in relief. Yet before she could relax, something entered her view.
The little fish that had shown Ran the route to here was completely stunned by the sudden turn of events. It frantically confronted the woman and blew bubbles furiously.
Pop pop. "Ah? So he was the one who saved this origin point?" She opened her mouth in shock and pointed at the fish laying unconscious on the red sand. The fish nodded its body so quickly that it became blurred from the rapid movement.
Of course he was the one who saved your sorry a**es! He's the main character! What else is he supposed to do, be a sidekick? Please…
"Ah?" The woman released another gasp of surprise and headed toward Ran. She could smell his bloodline on him, and those eyes… she could sense the very slight hint of hunger in them. It was extremely faint, but was also extremely unique and distinct. Anyone with any experience in this ocean would have recognized that type of hunger in a heartbeat; one that is only present in one species. Yet, he was the one who saved the origin point!?
Yeah right! She snorted in such displeasure of the being in front of her that she would have already spat in his face if he wasn't already laying on the sand.
"Oi!" Slap. She turned over his face and gave him a resolute slap.
Being slapped awake was actually not that much of a surprising experience as Ann had resorted to such means before. Yawning, he sat up and stretched his back and then his arms. Gazing upon the woman in front of him, he shied away for a second to cover his eyes. He had truly, never ever, thought in his entire life that he would meet a human like him here; in this seemingly infinite ocean. Thus, he must hide his eyes, quickly, before something untoward happens!
Covering his eyes with his hands, he faced the woman and greeted her, "Hello, what a lovely day we're having isn't it." The woman was unperturbed by this "joke" of his and was instead, confused. He isn't supposed to act like this, right? Where's the hunger, the greed!?
"Here." She proceeded to present her hand to his face. "Here what? You see, I… I can't quite see. You know, hands and all." But then he picked up on something. His nose twitched before it moved closer to her hand before smelling it. "Hmm, smells quite good."
The smell was even more enticing than Queenies scent… well, enticing is the wrong word. Its scent is probably of the same caliber as Queenies, but it was stronger-much stronger.
"Wha-what is it? That's all you have to say? You don't want to… eat it?" "Well, it would be delicious, but I would have to eat you wouldn't I? And why would I do that?" Ran was showing visible signs of confusion and slight distress when she asked if he wanted to eat her.
It has to be noted that Ran had already picked up on her scent before he had been knocked out. But more importantly, why was she offering herself to him!? Wasn't she stronger than him? Plus, even if he was stronger than her, why would he want to… eat her!?! All kinds of grotesque and gory scenes appeared in his mind and the visible distress on his face only served to confuse the other party even more!
Poor Ran. It seems he's already forgotten that there exists one more kind of "eating" in the world! Oh, poor, poor Ran, he missed out on so much.
Why? Why!? Why doesn't he want to eat me!? The woman exclaimed in her head. He's supposed to be hungry right, yet here he was on the verge of barfing!
"Why?" "Why what?" "Why don't you want to eat it?" "Well, that wouldn't be too good for you, right?" Ran calmed his nerves a bit and was relieved of his distressful face, but his curiosity then surged to near inhuman amounts! Why would she ask for such a thing in the first place?
He opened his fingers a bit so he could peek through them and instantly made eye contact with the woman. He then closed them shut again. "Haha, nothing to see here. I'm just a little embarrassed you see. Such a beautiful woman like you is unworthy of being viewed by my eyes, haha." Despite saying the whole spiel, his face betrayed his mouth as no embarrassment or nervousness appeared. The woman had caught on as well. It was merely just an act!
Yet the woman didn't care whether or not he covered his eyes as she placed more importance on his words beforehand. "Well, that wouldn't be too good for you, right; is what he said? And, he was the one who saved the reef? Hmm." Then there was the fact that he was a "larvae". She slowly started to piece certain things together and came to a… somewhat reasonable explanation.
Then it hit her. "I got it! You got hit in the head when you were born weren't you!?" "Ah?" Ran was confused once again and he somehow got the feeling that she was smiling confidently, even though he couldn't see. Indeed, probably one of the most smug smiles was currently showing itself to the world right now. She was so confident that she probably wouldn't take no for an answer.
"No. No I wasn't. At least, I don't think so." Ran eventually responded with an absolutely normal answer. "Ah?" Now it was her turn to say "ah", whatever that's supposed to mean.
"Are-are you lying to me right now?" Then a boring pressure slammed into him and sent him to his knees. Taking his hands off his eyes, he turned his face to her and made eye contact with her. "Do I look like I'm lying to you?"
The woman took a good long look at his resolute and sad face. One of the things Ran hated the most in this world, out of like two, is being called a liar! In fact, he's never lied a day in his life! He always faced the world with his silliness head on.
The woman looked and looked, and looked again! Yet, no matter how hard she looked into his eyes, she only found a kindness and loveliness so deep, an invisible aura began spreading outwards, touching the woman. She was stunned and immediately swam backwards in fright. The f**k was that!?
It was so intense and so… so pure. She thought.
That's a strange way to put it I guess. But her thoughts continued reeling.
It's almost as if… as if he was… a child!
She continuously stared into Ran eyes from a distance and eventually found what she was looking for. The hunger was indeed there, only it barely registered. It was small to the point of non-existence; almost as if it wasn't supposed to exist in the first place, or rather, it was uncared for.
Why? WHY!? Why why why why WHY!!!
The woman was shocked to her core. She had never heard of such a case before and her whole world seemed to be crumbling down. With her experience, this kid was a f**king anomaly! Should he even be allowed to live?
With a hand pointing towards Ran, she shakily said, "Y-you-you… you c-casted you-your hunger-a-a-away!?" At this point the woman seemed to have a mental breakdown from the shock and shivered a bit before beginning to slowly drift onto the red sand below her.
While such actions were exaggerated, by yours truly, it tells a clear story of the significance of the nature of Rans bloodline.
Seeing the woman laying on the sand, Ran instinctively approached her and booped her nose. "Hey, are you ok?"
"How?" "How? What do you mean?" "How did you do it? Tell me! Why are you not hungry?" "Ah? You mean hunger? Well, I had some real good hotpot last night." Ran started reminiscing of the hotpot and his mouth involuntarily began salivating; his hand rubbing his tummy.
"Ah?" The woman, for good measure, released one final "ah" before the scene changed. At this rate, I'll need another word for whatever "ah" means from the amount of times I've used it already.
***
"So you're a… human? What type of fish is a human?" The woman had received by now a recount of his story in the cave and was contemplating certain events.
"A human is… wait you're like me too, right?" Ran was confused and pointed at her basically naked, humanoid, body. "No, I'm a Coelacanth! And don't you forget it!" The woman was proud of her heritage and wasn't afraid to show it. It was strange, the woman had a very mature voice and good mannerisms, but she had this sort of bubbly side to her. She then continued speaking.
"This is just my bipedal form as my true form is too big to fit in this tiny hole."
Oh gosh! Ran proceeded to imagine a goliath of a fish trying to squeeze it's way in here. How could she call this place small? This cave was at least a hundred feet across with its height being even taller! He looked at her in astonishment and then became excited. "Can you show me?" This was once in a lifetime chance to see such a big fish, so how could he miss it?
Bonk! "Fool! We're trying to have a serious conversation here." She bonked him on the head to snap him out of it; successfully.
"So, this "human" fish, what is it? What are its, your, abilities." "Well, we breathe air and live on land. Fish can't do that… right?" Ran checked his brain to see if he remembered any fish living on land. Nope, couldn't find any; well, there is one. Himself! Wait, does he even count?
"Air? Land? What's that?" The woman scratched her head and was visibly racking her brains to see if her vocabulary included such complex words. "Well, it's the opposite of living in water." Ran tried to explain, but this was the best he could come up with. "Opposite of living in water?" She looked around and only saw water. There was water everywhere! There isn't a place where there isn't water here, so how could she even imagine such circumstances? She couldn't, it's literally impossible!
Ran saw this and immediately came to a conclusion. "Cough, basically I'm not from around here." "You're not from around here? Oh well, why didn't you just say so!" She slapped her forehead in realization before she kept going. "But you're a long way from the third zone aren't you? At least from what I remember, the outsiders from the third zone are fairly strong and unique, but you're so weak and fragile. Yet so strange. You're just a larvae, but you already have your bipedal form."
"Well, humans come like this so…" he pinched his arm and stretched his skin to demonstrate. While the girl was in her humanoid form, and naked, she was extremely different. There were black scales on virtually every part of her body, except for the face as it was more human-like. She also had six evenly distributed fins on her back that correlate to a Coelacanth's unique leg-like fins.
"Hey wait a minute, did you just call me a larvae?" "Yeah. I can tell with just one look. Child, I've lived longer than you and your parents combined!" Wait, if she was so old, then how could she be so pretty? Ran thought to himself. He was slightly skeptical, but really couldn't care less so he just moved on. "Plus, you've yet to even unlock a Carps most unique and devastating ability!"
The woman looked at Ran and her memories of the information she had heard about Carps flowed into her consciousness. Looking at Ran again, she couldn't help but shiver uncontrollably. Maybe, it was just better to get rid of him? She thought "selflessly". Yeah, it would be better for everyone if they all just went extinct! But the eyes in front of her just looked back at her with curiosity and innocence. In the end, she couldn't help it and decided to do nothing. She just topped it off to being this "human" bloodline that changed the nature of his other Carp bloodline.
Yet little did she know that the human bloodline had only a small part of what actually happened. If you guys, the readers, really want to know, it basically goes like this:
All right, basically, his Koi fish bloodline is special; that much should be clear. While artificially modifying a bloodline would eventually hamper its potential (which was something the Master had done), luckily, the numerous reincarnations of Olly had successfully broken that chain because of her surplus of life force that it gave her.
Now, she was modified to be able to live a long time without any food, of course, because she was in a pond with no other food available; to be able to meet and guide the inheritor. That now unique trait had obviously transferred over and had, in the end, completely pulverized the complete gluttony that all Carps are supposed to have. After all, why would you be hungry if you don't have to eat at all.
The human bloodline was pretty much just a catalyst; to be able to help grow the Koi fish bloodline and help it reach its full potential.
And lastly, while in terms of technical and "scientific" reasoning Ran himself had little to no part in the splicing and mingling of genes and traits, it's hardly the full story. In fact, it could be said that he had played the most integral part in this entire fiasco of me explaining the intricacies of the bulls**t that I've just been spouting!
You see, there's a little thing I like to call nature. Not nature, like an environment, but human nature. You know, everyone's got a little greed in them. A little evil, a little lust, and a little more. It's the spice of life! It's what makes everything fun, not so one sided and monotonous.
Yet, as strange as it might seem, Ran doesn't have any of these traits that is shown in humanity time and again!
Well, ok, maybe Rans got a bit of lust in him; but it's not his fault that Ann is such a great teaser!
Either way, the point is that Ran himself has already unknowingly rejected such gluttonous traits with just his mind! That, in essence, is the true reason Ran isn't some mindless fish that only knows how to eat.
Ran, however, simply wasn't focused on this at all. Rather, his attention was on another one of her statements. "So, there are others, huh." Smirking slightly, Ran was now extremely interested in the third zone.
After some more talking, they finally reached the closing statements.
"Child, though I hold great reluctance to impart you a gift, I shall grant you one wish." The woman staggered as she said those words, as if she didn't even believe that she herself had said such words. OOH boy, will she regret those words.
"A wish!?" Rans breathing quickly grew out of control from excitement and he began to clap his hands. Then with a finger, he pointed at her and said, "Fine! For my wish shall be the holiest and benevolent you!" He pointed at her seriously like he was making a very important decision in his life and stared at her with eyes full of solemnity.
The woman's mouth twitched before a blood mist began spreading out once again. "Boy, I'm too tired to play games with you. Granny is too, too, tired. I shall give you a normal gift instead. How about this place, this cave." "This cave, what? You mean this cave is my gift?" Ran looked around and found this place to actually be pretty surreal and beautiful.
Yet, now, something was off. Gazing left and right, up and down, Rans eyebrows furrowed tightly together. Yet shortly afterwards, they loosened up and his expression went through a gradation of confusion and contemplation to happy and excitement so powerful, accidental leakage of bowels might be inevitable!
Oh s**t, all hands on deck, Rans gonna blow! Quick, man the sails, reroute the energy to a different location! Got it sir, rerouting all energy reserves to orifice number 7.
"Pff." Ran was about to blow and hurriedly covered his mouth. The woman, instead, embraced it.
Smiling, she stretched her hands fully outwards and looked towards the ceiling. Shouting, she said, "Yes! Your right, Ran, this cave! Hahaha!"
"Hahahahahaha!" Ran could no longer hold it in finally blew his top and happily chuckled to the best of his abilities.
All around them, a faint rainbow mist, that was almost invisible to the naked eye and carried almost no scent, was spreading outwards; bringing along with it, a sense of empowerment as well as a sense of peace and tranquility.