Summary:
Sasha and Luz explore the lake with a friend.
Marcy had just been trying to gather materials to build up the camp walls when she heard a familiar voice underwater.
She drifted and swam along the river's bottom, turning a corner and seeing nothing but sand floating, as though it had been disturbed. Marcy tilted her head and continued forward, wondering what had caused the sand to shift.
Ripples in the water? A fish jumping? Or maybe-
Marcy was thrown to the side when something rammed into her from below, her body colliding with the wall of the small pond. She struggled up to a comfortable position and whipped around with a hiss, claws twitching as they prepared to attack. She froze suddenly and blinked.
"Sasha?!" She gasped, her battle stance vanishing as she took a look at her half-fish friend.
"You're- you-" Marcy poked the bulb of the lure on Sasha's head, eyes widening when it flickered and turned on.
"So, I was working on your cure, and…" Sasha stretched out a webbed hand with an awkward toothy smile, "I… dropped it."
Marcy giggled and pulled Sasha into a big hug.
"Oh, I should probably mention I'm not alone." Sasha said, motioning to the seagrass with her tail. Luz's head popped up and she hurried to the others.
"Marcy! Hi!"
"Woah! You look like a flying fish!" Marcy matched the appearance of a regular flying fish with the webs she saw on Luz, who stretched out her wing-fins in question.
"I do? Wait, does that mean I can fly ?!"
She looked so excited at the thought of being able to soar the skies, even for just a moment.
"Wanna test that theory?" Marcy grinned with excitement. Luz's eyes widened.
"YES! Can we?!" She looked to Sasha, who just shrugged.
"Not my decision, but yeah." The blonde replied with a small smile. Marcy grabbed Luz by the wrist and dragged her away, letting Sasha follow as they swam together down the river.
The three stopped just before a waterfall, backing up a bit and being wary of the current.
"Okay. Luz, you run and jump out of the water and try to fly. Sashy and I can wait for you below, in the lake." Marcy instructed, making sure her friend was comfortable with the plan.
"Got it!" Luz scurried back a few feet from the drop, digging her clawed toes into the sand at the bottom of the river to stay put. Marcy took Sasha's hand in her own.
"Marbles, are you sure this is safe?" Sasha asked, looking a bit worried.
"Probably. If I can climb up the waterfall, I can go down!" Marcy pulled Sasha with her and leaped out of the water, diving blindly into the lake below. Sasha was still yelling when they hit the surface with a splash, but stopped a moment after being able to breathe.
"C'mon! Luz is gonna jump!" Marcy popped up above the lake's surface, Sasha not far behind, and they waited patiently.
A minute went by, and eventually Luz leaped off the waterfall, spreading out her wing-fins and gliding down to the lake. Purple scales shimmered as she flew, blocking the sun and for a moment making the surface of the lake glow.
She was struggling to stay in the air about ten feet from the water below and ended up crashing into it. Marcy and Sasha dipped down to follow her descent, all cheering and laughing happily.
"You did it!" Marcy giggled, pulling Luz into a hug. Luz herself looked shocked, happily lifting an arm to hug back as a smile returned to her face.
" That ," Sasha began, "Was awesome. I wish I could fly!" her tail drifted behind her, accidentally whacking her in the face.
Luz snorted with laughter, her own tail wagging a bit.
Marcy felt a bit left out, having no tail of her own, but pushed the feelings down.
Her friends didn't need to know. They were worried about her enough without these tiny little problems. She could deal with the overwhelming dark thoughts by herself!
"Marce, can you show us around?" Sasha's voice cut through her thoughts like a knife of pure light, and Marcy snapped back to reality.
"Wh- oh! Yeah, sure! Follow me!" She turned and swam downwards, propelling herself forwards and enjoying the flow of the current beneath her scales. She followed what she hoped was a familiar route, eventually ending up just outside of the crystal cave she'd seen before.
"This is the cave of crystals!" She exclaimed, showing it off with jazz hands, "Some of the crystals in there work like miroirs, it's pretty cool."
Sasha gasped at her reflection in one of the taller crystals, gently placing a hand on the side of it, her claws gently clicking on the face of it.
Luz had a similar reaction, but instead she twirled around a few times to check out all the scales on her arms and legs. "This is so cool! I'm a fish!"
Sasha turned on the light on her lure, and all around the group crystals began to shine. Marcy felt butterflies in her gut, the scene looked so beautiful …
She shook her head and a few bubbles appeared. "I haven't finished the tour yet! Come on, the next stop is awesome too!"
The sun was just starting to dip below the horizon when Marcy, Sasha and Luz went back up to the river. After a day of swimming, they were all tired out and could use a nice rest.
Sasha took a deep breath and climbed out of the river, moving quickly. She needed to find the backpack so that the group could turn back to normal.
She twisted and turned, ducking under leaves and branches, and jumping over roots and a fallen log. Eventually she found the bag, and hooked it around her shoulder before turning around and heading back.
She nearly tripped over the same root she'd fallen at before, but dodged it and made it to the river just in time. She ducked under the water leaving Anne's backpack at the shore.
"Did you get it?" Marcy looked eager to transform back to her human self, hands fidgeting and twitching.
"Yeah! Let me just crush up the bug." Sasha poked her head out of the water and grabbed one of the bugs that was still in the bag, smashing it to pieces and letting them fall into a pouch. She tied up the curse and plopped it beside the backpack.
"I did it, let's go!" She yanked Luz and Marcy with her, where the three stood beside each other on the riverbank. Sasha threw the pouch at the ground right in the middle of them.
She shuddered as she felt her fins retract and disappear from sight, the scales not far behind. Her lure vanished and her fingers shrank back to normal size, the webbing in between them sinking back into her hands. She coughed a few times with the sudden transition of being able to breathe underwater to being able to breathe above water again.
Sasha turned and saw both Luz and Marcy back to their human forms as well.
All three of them had soaking wet clothes, but they were back to normal, so nobody was complaining.
Marcy looked relieved, flipping her hands over a few times each.
"Anne's gonna be so shocked. Oh, wait! Anne!" Marcy realized, "I never told her I was going to the lake! We've been gone all day!" She tensed up, shoulders rising in a panic.
"It's okay!" Luz was quick to reassure her, rubbing a hand on her shoulder, "I'm sure she won't mind."
Marcy took a deep breath.
"Yeah, you're probably right…"
Sasha smiled, "Let's go surprise her and Amity." She said confidently. Marcy nodded, her excitement returning.
The three trekked through the thick trees, greenery whacking them in the face as they shoved it away. They hiked past a large dip in the ground, taking a different route but still ending up at their camp.
The second Anne and Amity saw them, they were bombarded with questions.
"Where were you?!"
"Why are you soaking wet?"
"Why were you gone for hours?!"
"Why didn't you tell us?!"
"What did you do with my backpack?"
"No, seriously, why are you soaking wet?"
Luz sighed, finding a rock to sit on. Marcy and Sasha went to sit with her.
"It's a crazy story. Strap yourselves in, because we're going to tell you all about it."