Learning to swim*open*

Talone was scared out of her mind at te moment. She had yet agin opened a portal to try to get to Deep Jungle but ended up surrounded by coral reefs and clear water. At first she panicked by flailing and holding breath before realizing she no longer had legs but a long LionFish tail in tan with brown stripes and her scars down the left side. She gasped at the site of it and learned she could breathe. She tried to stretch her wings but noticed Rey had turned into tattoos on her back instead. She didn't exactly know how to swim so desided now was the best time. She first checked if her arms could get her somewhere but to no avail she didn't shift a bit. She then tried to move her newly found fish tail, finding the sensation odd and the fins twitched in the water. He tail control quickly improved and she could go foreward t a slow pace. She tried to move it faster but got scare when she didn't know how to steer. She slowly moved over to a smooth section of coral and thought of how she could swim faster and get out of this water filled world.

While Talone was confused by the sudden change from dry land to under the sea another creature was in that world and wasn't that worried at all, that being would be Ratchet the heartless mechanic. While most living things need to breath air to live a heartless like him didn't need air to live, he didn't have lungs anyway so he never got changed into a fish like form by the world. He didn't understand that at first till he figured that the world does that to anyone that can't breath underwater to keep them from dying, so since he didn't need to breath air he was left alone for the most part.

That did mean he didn't have any fins or a large tail to swim with but he fixed that problem by using one of his little gadgets he called the water jetpack, it was pretty much a small pack stuck on his back that had two small water jets that he uses to swim around in at high speed. At the moment he was using it enough to figure out how to do it right but also he was working out how much lighting energy he should put into it from his body, it was then that he noticed someone was on a coral reef and looked really confused.

he turned himself toward the person and used his pack to jet over there but he kept his distance due to how he wasn't sure if they was friend or foe, he stared at her through his goggle lenses in confusion and fear before finally he said "......Umm....h-hello?"

Her body locked up as she fell of the coral by someone addressing her. She tried to swim back up some to see a heartless in overalls and goggles. She reached for her bag that was still there and prepared to pull out her weapons as she questioned the odd heartless.
"How the heck can you talk and what do you want?"
Her words were slightly hissed as the poisonous barbs on her tail rose up as an instinct to not only make her appear bigger but to give her confused body a chance to recover.
" Do you know what this place is called Heartless?"
She was wary of it as her barbs twitched and her fingers itche to use her Kunckle Busters.

Ratchet tilted his head in confusion when the girl fell off the coral but when she hissed at him and reached for her weapons he let out a yell of panic "AHH NO!" He quickly turned, jetted away, and then hid behind some coral that was far away as he then stuck his out from around the coral to look at the person with fear.

He then said with a stutter "P-please don't hurt me....I-I wasn't going to do anything wrong.....a-and I don't know how I can t-talk and the others can't.......I-I just do.....and you're in Atlantica.....a-a place full of water and oceans.....the world turns everyone that can't breath under water into fish people....." He kept his eyes on her but one could easily see he was a timid thing and didn't want to fight at all.

Her eye went wide at how quick the thing jetted behind some coral in a panic. She listened to the poor thing studded and desided to put her weapons away and the barbs on her tail laid flat again. She went over to him and showed her hands in the open as to show him she meant no harm.
"I didn't mean to scare you I just wasn't expecting a talking heartless in the middle of the ocean. Do you have a name?"
She seemed to wobble some as she swam in a cautious manner to sit on a section of coral closer to the strange new creature. Wrapping her mind aroun the idea of a more human heartless terrified her but also sparked curiosity for he runner fledgling.

When Talone put her weapons away Ratchet calmed down quite a bit as he then saw her open palms that showed she was no longer able to harm him at the moment, when she talked to him in a more calm voice he answered her question still with a slight stutter "M-my name is Ratchet, and i-it ok. I understand that my kind are hated.......I would hate me too if I was what ever I was before becoming a h-heartless."

Ratchet then noticed how hard it seemed for the woman to stay still in the water which confused him a bit as most could at least stay still in water after only an hour, he looked at her for a bit then said "W-what is your name, I never seen someone like you before." he stared at her in confusion as he sort of thought her skin looked either feathery or furry he wasn't sure.

Her breath huffed but came out as bubbles at his overly clommon question. She desided to cling to a formation of coral with one arm as she introduced herself.
" my name is Talone and normally I have legs with bird feet, wings, and a lion's tail. This whole idea of swimming is new to me due to the fact that I've never done so until now."
The tip of her tail kept moving at a rather calm pace while adjusting to staying in one place longer than 5 seconds. She let go of the coral for a moment before slightly going to the left. She then took hold of the coral structure and muttered curses under her breath.

Ratchet was distracted by the bubbles that Talon just produced from her mouth and was now watching them rise higher and higher up toward the top of the world, he then looked back at Talon to listen to what she said all the while having his little water jet pack slowly working to keep him from sinking due to his heavy steal toe boots. When she was done talking he stared at her before he said "Cool! So you got wings and stuff, y-you must look awesome in your normal form....oh so that's why your having such a hard time with this. W-well if anything swimming in a large ocean is like flying through the sky......you can only go so far up and can only go so far down. So I think you can learn to swim in just an hour or two, it helps that the world gave you that fish tail so you got s-some fish like instincts." Ratchet moved over to the coral and sat on it so he wouldn't have to put energy in the pack any more.

He kicked his feet a bit in boredom as he also noticed how much taller Talone is but then he had to ask "If you don't swim........why you in this world?"

As he said about it being instinct she closed her eyes and just let said instinct take over. She thought of going up and she went up, to the left, and so on and so forth. She opened her eyes and started getting wobbly with her swimming again. She cursed in bird chirps as the tip of her tailfin thrashed. She thought of his second statement before answering.
"I tried forcing a heartless to take me to Deep Jungle as a an acquaintance of mine had told me. It seems he was right when he said they were stubborn creatures. It ended up bringing me here before dying on me.
She tried focusing once more on swimming upward before getting so frustrated she thrashed her tail hard enough to make a wind magic mix into it and sent a wave of bubbles out in some unknown direction.

Ratchet watched Talone swim around with her eyes closed and she was doing pretty good at it as well so he smiled and said "Hey you're doing it!" it was then that he watched her open her eyes and start wobbling around as he then said "Ah....well you can't swim with your eyes closed so......more practice." He then listened to what she said about the heartless and he shuttered a bit before backing up a tad bit, he then said "...O-oh....." he was worried she would try to use him to get to Deep Jungle by force if needed. He watched her send out a wave of bubbled from her tail and that caused him to shake a bit more in fear as he was thinking about getting the Wrench out soon for protection.

She stopped as she noticed Ratchet start shaking and backing away from her. She quirked her said to the side before she realized what she had said. She frowned and tried giving a comforting word to him.
" I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you scared of me. It was a weak little shadow, it died more out of fear than of me attacking it. I won't don't plan on hurting you unless you attack first. You're not like the other heartless so you don't really have to worry. You just spark my curiosity so killing you would be a waste."
She gave a small smile hoping her words were comforting. She had a feeling to an extent that she had just made his fear worse. She started thinking of ways to get better at comforting other beings.

Ratchet listened to what Talone said about the shadow heartless and when she was done he sweat dropped a bit and said "So.....as long as your curious....you won't...k-kill me.......that doesn't help me feel better.....but thanks for trying...." he couldn't smile or show any form of emotion too well due to his scarf being around his mouth and so he then said "S-so you want to explore this world......might as well since you are here you know..." At the current moment Ratchet was trying to change the subject from heartless torture to adventure.

Her own face fell at her complete failure at a comfort attempt. She sighed and expected him to run off but instead offered to explore. She thought it through for a moment and agreed it was a good idea.
"As much as I hate water I guess it would be a good idea to look around just in case I end up here again. Would you like to go with me? I'll be a bit vulnerable until I figure out how to work this thing."
At her last statement she wiggled her tail around and attempted to swim off I the direction of a large sunken ship.

Ratchet would of placed a hand on the woman's shoulder to show a bit of comfort toward her but opted to leave it be due to how it might only make her angry or defensive of her personal space, it was then that she agreed to his suggestion to explore this world since she is already here in the first place.

He then heard her ask him to go with her due to how she isn't exactly able to do much in these waters till she learns how to fight better, he nodded his head in confirmation before jetting after her as they both went toward a sunken ship. But as they did Ratchet couldn't shake the feeling that someone or something was watching them from afar......and he didn't like it one bit. He looked at Talone and said "This person......who told you t-to use heartless to get around........w-what did he look like?" Ratchet didn't know that Talone was talking about Kuja at the current moment.

She looked back at him and thought of telling him or not. She was hoping he would never have to deal with Kuja even though he would act kind he had a violent streak. She attempted to do a flip as she explained.
"the world I reside in was visited by a being named Kuja. He had told me how to use heartless to get around. Apparently it's not as easy as he made it sound. I Wonder what that male is up to at the moment?"
She was looking up to what should be the surface of the waters as she said this. Her tail started swaying in an even rhythm and she actually started swimming normally. She didn't even notice she was swimming as she listened to the ship creak with the current.

Ratchet waited for the answer he wanted from her and was a bit relieved and bothered that it was indeed Kuja that told her to do that, he looked at her and then said "I know Kuja, I live with him. He is a bit......m-mean but he takes care of me.....a few nobodies tried to kill me.....h-he killed them before they could.......a-as to what he is up to......I think he w-went to Halloween Town to find some people." it was then that Ratchet noticed that Talone was swimming normally to which he smiled and said "Hey you getting the hang of it sooner than I thought, good job."

As they got closer to the ship the more that weird feeling started to bother Ratchet as he didn't like the feeling at all, he just hoped it was just his mind playing tricks on him and not some heartless or a shark or a giant squid.....or a giant shark!

She blinked a few times taking it in that Kuja would take care of a heartless. She didn't know him that well per say but she got a vibe from him that the only being he liked was his dragon. She then noticed she was swimming as he had stated it. She got a smile on her face and did somewhat of a twirl and a flip. Bubbles came from her out of character laugh as she got better at moving her tail fin gracefully.
"guess it just took me not thinking about it to learn how to move in this form. When I met Kuja I didn't expect him to hang around too many beings from what I know of him but...."
She stopped as she heard an errie sound almost like a wail come from the sunken ship. On instinct she pulled out her weapon, at least the ones for her hands, and serveyed the area with caution. Her ears appeared to twitch as she tried to listen to find out what kind of creature would make such a noise.

Ratchet smiled behind his scarf as he watched Talone laugh as he thought she was all serious and such as he found it nice to hear someone laugh around him instead of yelling at him or running in fear of him, he then thought about doing a trick but thought better as he didn't want to show off. He then listened to her talk about her form then about Kuja to which he said "Sometimes the easiest way to answer a problem is just to relax and let it come to you, and as for Kuja..........well there isn't many who live in our Castle but other than me and him there is Koutetsu his pet dragon and his younger sister Ryoko. Ryoko will play with me from t-time to time......but only when she is bored but still better than never playing with me."

He then heard the sound as well which caused him to call forth his mighty Wrench which was really just sat on the ground somewhere on the ocean floor as Ratchet wanted to travel without it for a bit, the thing flew at them and when the giant Wrench appeared he held it in his hands and then spun it around a bit as he sort of used it like a shield/staff like thing. He then looked at her and said as he shivered behind his weapon "...W-What do you t-think i-it is....." Ratchet was not a fighter he was a mechanic but he would fight if needed.

She scratched the side of it as it came past her. When It started for her again she punched in square in the nose, sending it back some. It was a nobody in the shape of a shark. It charged again but as it did so, it wailed that eerie sound and turned into an over grown eel. She smirked some as she forced a wind current into her tail for more speed.
"hmm, a shape shifting Nobody. This is gonna be fun."
Her extra speed did help but the eel changed again into a squid as she sliced it's sides open. Her tail got caught by one of the arms, making her fight back even harder.

Ratchet didn't expect to see something dart at them at such fast speeds and when he could see it after Talone punched it away he was shocked to see it was a nobody in the shape of a shark, it came at Talone again but shifted into an eel like form to make itself more dangerous to her.

It was then that the thing grabbed hold of Talone's tail after shifting into an squid, by then Ratchet knew he had to help so he quickly jetted toward them and brought his wrench down hard enough on the squid's arm to cause it to let go of Talone's tail so she could get some distance between it and herself. The thing didn't like that though as he shifted into a giant barracuda and bit down on Ratchet's left leg before he could dodge, he let out a yelp of pain as it hurt but luckily his above average toughness lessened the damage enough that it wasn't' a serious wound.

He quickly aimed this Wrench at the nobodies head and smashed the things head between the two teeth on one end, he then said "T-This is gonna hurt you more than it going to h-hurt me." he let the wrench shoot its electrical energy into the heartless frying the thing and doing a good bit of damage to its head. Sadly the charge carried into Ratchet so he got shocked but it was not too bad for him due to his resistance to lighting but it was enough for the nobody to let go and float in the water in one place trying to get over the shock, Ratchet jetted over to where Talone was as darkness was seeping out of his leg wound as the heartless called his Wrench back to his hand as he said "W-what should we do now...." Ratchet knew the nobody still had some fight left in it and would be after them again after the shock to its brain was overcome.

When her tail was let go, she shot back out of shock that the timid little heartless would actually save her. She watched as it changed shape again and bit his leg. She swam as hard as she could after being asked what to do next. She grinned madly as she shouted and stabbed her blades deep into the nobody's side.
"we finish it off while it's still stunned of course!!!"
Her arms moved in a flurry as she punched her bladed fists through it over and over again. The nobody constantly tried changing shape to recover, but her speed forced it to appear as a mutated mass of different marine animals. She backed off as it went limp and slowly faded away in grey and black smoke. She checked her weapons to see if she damaged them before putting them away. Her body felt a bit tired as she swam back over to Ratchet. She put up a weak smile as she stated;
"Now, let's take a look at your leg. It bit you pretty hard."

Ratchet saw the scary look on Talone's face when she looked at him to answer his question, he just stood back and let her go nutzors on it and nutzors she did go as that girl tore into it with reckless abandon and soon the thing was deader than dead and he made a mental note to avoid this girl's bad side.

When she swam back to him he just let her look at his leg without any trouble as she did look weak, it was bleeding out darkness which was the blood of heartless though his did hold a charge so it would spark a few times with lighting energy. He just said "I-it will be ok....I-I am a tough heartless....a-are you ok? You look tired...." Ratchet was worried that the poor girl would pass out from the lack of energy at this rate.

She pulled out some bandages and wrapped his leg somewhat tightly. She would pull back her hand when her hand would tingle from the charge held in the little heartless's blood but looked proud when he was all fixed up. She kept the weak smile inherent face as she started for the ship again.
"No need to worry about me, I just need to adjust to the idea of swimming to get around is all. Most of my race can't swim so this would scare the feathers right off of them."
She even gave a weak laugh before getting a little dizzy, making her stop in her tracks. She looked at her tail and noticed some sort of barb from the nobody was stuck near her fin.
"Well this is unexpected..."
She tried her best to stay upright as she pulled her tail around to pull the barb out but her vision was getting too blurry to know what she was doing. Her eyes began to droop fro the sedative like poison slowly entering her body.

Ratchet watched Talone bandage up his leg and that caused him to fidget a slight bit from embarrassment but let her do what she wanted to fix him up, it was them he heard her say that it just because she is not used to swimming that she looked tired and all. He used his pack to follow her around but then he saw her stop and look at her tail to which he did the same, he saw the barb in her tail near the fin and knew from the color it came from that nobody.

When she started to get all sleepy and droopy Ratchet went to her fin and pulled the barb out with as much care as he could muster while working underwater, when it was out he moved to hold Talone in his arms since he knew even with the barb out she had enough in her to knock her silly so he would need to carry her. He looked around rapidly to figure out where to go before he just used the water jet pack to dart toward the sunken ship, he looked at Talone and said "Y-you better not fall a-asleep Talone...." he was trying to keep her awake as he didn't know how to fix this as he was a mechanic not a doctor.

He finally reached the ship and went into the inner most part of the ship to avoid any more unwanted guess from the deep before he laid her down softly and figured he would cover the hole in her tail from the barb first by using those bandages she had used on him. But after that he had no idea what to do at the moment.

Her breathing was getting slightly weak as she realized she was laid down on something. She could tell Ratchet was moving around before her but couldn't keep her eyes open too wide due to the poison. She feebly moved her hand toward her bag as if to gesture to Ratchet to get something out of it.
"White bottle....medicine.....in bag...please..."
She stopped moving for a moment as if she had fallen asleep but her eyes opened to slits to show she was still consious. She hoped he would hurry up and give her the potion before she was knocked out.