Delivered to: Misha M121 Fonseca [Misha] (she/her)

6:23 pm

Custom Set Destination: Meadow Beach, Suntown City

Mission Communicator: Ilene I7412 Faith [Ilene] (she/her)

Details: Good morning Misha.

—Message End—

Water swept beside the rickety old dock, about level with its mold ridden surface. Waves crashed on the rough limestone and basalt shore of Meadow Beach in no distinguishable pattern. Sometimes they fizzled out with a gurgle. Others slapped the shore with a force unwarranted for the breezeless late summer morning.

Shivers rippled up my paws and hind legs. Not because of the moisture seeping through the dock, up my belly and spine, and drooping my pelt. Looking at the mission details flashing on my ruby red watch, I vibrated from pure willpower keeping me rooted to that smelly slab of wood. If I could, I would've stormed back to my warm, cozy cat bed like last June's hurricane, which, had it gotten any closer to the shoreside city, would've swept Goldton clean off the map.

I tilted my nose up to the twilight grey sky and sniffed the salty sea spray. The number of particles of salt tainting the air probably added up just short of my irritation level. If I hated anything more than morninger people than me, it was water. And guess what all I could see between me and the morning horizon?

Water.

Why salt? Every other lake has fresh water. But oh, no. I just happen to have to live by the salty one.

Temptation to bail on whatever Ilene planned grew every passing second.

By the time her voice finally spoke through the watch around my paw, I had begun to slip away, turning my back on whatever she woke me up to do at that cat forsaken place.

"Analyzing the current temperature," she chirped. Her eager voice shot more ripples of irritation down my back and to my tail, causing it to flick uncontrollably. "Your watch says it's going to be sunny and bright in a few hours. Perfect beach vacation weather."

"The watch must be broken then," I replied, not in the mood for Ilene's teasing. "Mind telling me why I'm freezing my butt off staring at a stupid oversized puddle? And for the record, the sun isn't up yet, and I saw Yesterday's weather forecast. Rain all day."

"Curious indeed. Also, it's Meadow Lake. Let me pull up your mission," she said as she searched for the details she had plenty of time earlier to examine.

While I didn't know whether she was in human form or semi-human form because differentiating the languages had always been a challenge for me, I pictured her in cat form. Light emitted from the trio of computer monitors, illuminating her slim, Egyptian Mau-like figure.

Everything about her appearance was gentle from the curves of her almost triangular head to the way her traces of silky orange fur blended with soft white into two yellow spots. One positioned between her ears and down her neck and the other between her shoulder blades, spread over her long back.

That, or she was in human form, leaning back in my rolly chair because taking the time to find her own conflicted with her twenty-four-seven self-allotted annoy Misha work schedule.

"Let's see," she said when she retrieved the info she'd compiled for my mission. "This one was monitored by a team of supernatural human bloggers since last week. A few days ago, it came to the local newspapers' attention, and they had nothing better to fill the bottom corner of their paper with." I could almost hear the clicking of computer keys in the background, but between the waves and audio quality, it was most definitely my imagination.

I groaned and stood up to walk off the dock. "So you woke me up to soak my paws just to humor a group of amateur ghost hunters? Seriously?"

"Wait," said Ilene as if she knew I stood. "Here's the thing. A couple of S.H.H.A.'s apprentice investigators decided to look into it, and there's something going on. One of the supernatural bloggers, a teenage boy named Tyler, was friends with a girl who claimed to have lost her little brother at the beach. Allegedly, the boy noticed something fin-like pointing out of the water. His sister didn't think anything of it because there aren't sharks or dolphins in the lake. A lifeguard on duty at the time said he'd seen the boy swimming and fine just minutes before his sister began calling his name.

"Between that point and the newspaper, three other people went missing at Meadow Beach. Additionally, down shore from where you are now, houses located beside and on the lake have been calling in noise complaints to the human authorities during the middle of the night. Strange singing sounds coming from the lake's direction.

"The apprentices found a social media post by one of those people saying that he would paddle his boat out to discover the source. Unknown to human authorities, he went missing last night."

"So, am I looking for a shark or a freaking siren?" I asked, ticked off that she hadn't sent out those apprentices to finish their job. "Because I see neither, hear neither, and would very much like to wrap this up and go home."

"I'm glad I have such a brave and valiant leader," said Ilene, upsetting me even further. Out of all the talents Maxima could have granted me, why did our oh-so-favorite spirit give me the talent to befriend annoying people?

Honestly, couldn't a hero have one day to sleep in? I would've taken my human bed over this. But no. I had "responsibilities". Apparently, those included waking up at 6 A.M. to satisfy my sadistic best friend's every beckon. Because voluntelling a dolphin semi-human would've been terribly burdensome.

Being the leader of a shapeshifter superhero organization is so overrated.

"Why did you choose me for this mission instead of an investigator or mage? Mages do this ghosty stuff," I whined, giving up on the bed idea for the time being.

I shook my creamy-white coat as if that would erase the sensation of salt on my skin. Well, creamy white save for splotches of orange and dusted spots of ash grey. One front paw grey, the other orange. And the colors just blended more the further down my neck and back. I'd been labeled a walking color science experiment more than once by more than one person.

"Because I knew you'd love it. And mages study magic, not ghosts. You know that."

"Same thing."

A sigh sounded through my watch, but Ilene dropped the topic. Smart choice considering Ilene through a watch scared me less than Ilene a paw's length away. Not as nightmare level terrifying as her mother's lectures, but close enough.

Water splashed my paws from a larger wave. Fur bristled in an instant, I leaped back, a squeak just short of my tongue. Ilene couldn't hear my embarrassing alarm through the watch, nor could she hear the radio playing from somewhere far off in the ocean.

My ears twitched and focused on the unusual, static-filled music. The soft crashing waves were loud enough to drown it out, and a human wouldn't have heard it. I could somewhat make out a voice either speaking or singing between breaks in the background noise.

Much to my disappointment, the waves grew larger now than before, storms drawing closer. "Not a chance," I said with a groan.

"Awe, is Mishy afraid of the water?"

"Don't call me Mishy. I'm not a kitten anymore," I said with my chin tilted toward the sky. "Millions of people are killed by water per year. Obviously, I take special care around it."

"Mhm," Ilene hummed. "You knock on death's door on a monthly basis. Your excuses need work. Plus, you can always just fly. Worst-case scenario, you fly headfirst into a big wave and get a bit damp."

Or the watch breaks, and I plummet to my untimely demise in the icy claws of the murky abyss. Not gonna cover that option, are you?

"Whatever," I muttered, playing around with my watch. In a pickle, I had the code to activate fly mode memorized by heart. But my heart tended to only reveal certain important information two seconds before death. My watch buzzed and opened random tabs as I failed to recall the code. I wouldn't ask Ilene –she'd never let me live it down.

Although my watch resembled many other standard S.H.H.A. watches, I knew that a mage made is specifically for me. It's not every day they received a leader who couldn't fly. Granted, most leaders weren't effectively fourteen years old either. 'Effectively' because semi-humans didn't age at the same rate as humans. Fourteen was my human-equivalent age. Technically, I was only nine years old. Simple semi-humans like me didn't get all technical.

Our watches provided whatever the individual or team needed. Often, communication and clothing storage. At some point, Ilene decided that I needed to be in the clouds, my life in the hands of a tiny device that sometimes flipped to human language while I was in semi-human form. Granted, back during the wars, cat and other semi-humans trained to jump out of planes. Not flying, but still stupid. Even now, some brave souls, or as I liked to call them, suicidal souls, still didn't value their lives enough to stay away from those 'extracurriculars'.

My watch flashed, this time with the words Flight Mode Activated. A little notification set by Ilene popped up over it, Remember Disguise. Why a nobody like me needed to wear a mask and cape was beyond my knowledge. Maybe if my mom knew about my past time, she might've been easier on me when I arrived home late. Saving lives beat setting tables.

I tapped the correct pattern on the screen and pressed the watch to my forehead. The synthetic material of my vibrant red mask slid around my face, just large enough to cover my eyes, and connected seamlessly behind my head. I moved my paw down my stomach, and a vest of the same color spread around my torso. A cape fell down my back, just long enough to reach my mid-tail.

That was all for tradition and show. What kept my identity a secret was a thin layer of magic filling the eyeholes and covering every inch of my exposed fur. Unless someone knew me without the disguise and intentionally broke through the magic to see me, my image appeared unrecognizable. Whether in person or through a camera, if one saw me, they wouldn't be able to describe what they saw. As if they imagined what they thought was a detailed, vivid cat in their head but didn't realize they forgot to give the cat a fur color.

Despite its obvious importance, I'd be lying if I said wearing a flashy red cape didn't boost my ego.

"Fish fry, here I come," I said in a useless attempt to awaken my sleeping morale. The idea of water seeping through my fur, leaving its salt behind, unsettled my stomach. "You better taste good."

Ilene chuckled through my watch. Although I knew she did so just to get under my skin, if I weren't afraid of messing up the flight functions, I would've muted her. She'd done the same to me in opposite circumstances. I could figure out which random buttons to press if she annoyed me enough.

At least grateful I could get off the molding dock, I lifted myself up into the air. I took one last longing glance to the shore behind me, a mix of rocks and sand followed by a line of beach houses. Then, I set off over the ocean-like lake.

Meadow Lake resembled an ocean in most ways. Salty and big. But, not as big as an ocean. While seasonal and spontaneous floods hit nearby towns, not tropical storms or hurricanes. Those came from the ocean to the East. The main input of its water was the freshwater Sliders' River. Sliders' River ran through Sliders' River Camp, hence the name, and continued further north, passing S.H.H.A. headquarters. But due to a complex portal system, humans only knew of Sliders' River as an overgrown stream or swamp.

The waves beneath me, a shade of deep, murky turquoise, were dark and ominous. Water never sat well with me, especially water I couldn't see through. Paranoid as it may seem, between the eerie shadow spots and confusing reflections, water had a way of concealing dangers lurking beneath its depths. It didn't help that the sun still sat just below the horizon.

I scanned the blue for any signs of gigantic fish. To be more specific, a grey triangle sticking out of the water. Sure, people told me sharks didn't actually do that, but what else was I supposed to look for?

"Here fishy-fishy," I said and snuck a glance at my watch. Ilene had disconnected. If that's not what cranked up my anxiety, then it was the cold drizzle that started a second later. "Yummy kitty snack for you to eat. Courtesy of Ilene, my best friend who just abandoned me out here all alone. She's probably in my office right now, all cozy and dry."

I still heard the radio. It lingered just out of reach. If I were completely honest, I felt lured. Like a fish following the smell of fresh food, unaware that what awaited it was a hook and line. But, if it was bait, then whoever cast it better have had patience. I wasn't picking up my speed anytime soon. Slow and steady won the race, and I stuck to that for as long as it benefited me.

With nothing better to do and no one to listen in, I began a truly riveting conversation with myself. "I hate water. I hate sharks. I hate Ilene. I hate myself for getting up this morning–" The radio stopped.

Albeit the drizzle peppering my face, the air seemed to go silent. How close did I get to the sound? I wondered, unsure of how I could've drawn nearer. While perception and I weren't best friends, with cat ears, I should've noticed.

Nothing about the water beneath me changed, and I wasn't about to fly any closer. Not until a shadow appeared behind a wave.

It was much larger than me, even my human form. Close to the size of a car but longer. At first, it remained stationary. But as I stared, willing it to disappear and never return again, it seemed to move back and forth in the waves. I blinked, and it no longer moved. Every ounce of me wished that I could fly back the way I came and not test whether the movement was a trick of the eye or not.

Like a balloon slowly deflating, I lowered myself to the water, imagining how fast a sea monster could leap out and gobble me up. I could picture its long slimy body in my head. Maybe, like an electric eel, it would zap and fry my brain. Or like a giant seal, it would break my watch and play around with me, its food, until it grew bored.

There were far more reasonable options. Like hippocampi. But, I'd only met the water horses in passing or formal events. Eel and seal semi-humans, on the other hand, I held personal grudges against.

As I grew closer, I realized that the shadow was moving, but to the waves. It made circular motions as it drifted up and down. Frowning, I sunk further, the tip of my cape a few inches off the water and hind legs pressed against the soft fur of my stomach to ensure dryness. At least, that was the intention.

Could be seagrass, but why would it float beneath the surface? And there shouldn't be any rocks out here, I looked back at the shore. The houses in the distance weren't quite the size of ants, but maybe plump mice. Shallow water ended only twenty to thirty meters from the shore, and I was far past double that. A really, really, big rock?

At this point, I flicked my gaze back to my watch. Maybe Ilene could give me a reasonable explanation for the shadow. Then, since I lost the radio, I could scope out the houses it allegedly visited after dusk. Because hunting singing sea monsters at the scary hours of the night was far more tempting than near sunrise.

I tapped my paw on my watch to call Ilene, my attention briefly stolen from the shadow beneath me. It only took a second of distraction, just long enough for me to connect to Ilene's signal.

Remember how I mentioned the flashy red cape boosted my ego? Well, as a double-edged sword, when that same cape caused a failure on my part, my ego shredded into a million fragments like a paper towel roll in the paws of a kitten. My ego healed fast, but still: not fun.

What I would like to point out in that second was that my brain, which often made the brunt of various jokes, worked surprisingly fast. From the moment I felt an unexpected weight tugging on my cape, my brain registered an entire word within less than half a second, Shoot.

So the shadow wasn't a rock –surprise, surprise– and cost me both my ego and my state of being somewhat dry.

Flipped over by the cape, I hit the water back-first. Saltwater, cool despite the preceding summer days, engulfed me, stinging my eyes and nose. Surprised, I gasped, bubbles rushing past my face, but stopped myself from inhaling just in time. Whatever attacked didn't tug me down further than a meter. The pressure on my cape disappeared, but my brain adamantly stated in a continuous chain that I would drown any second.

With a few strong strokes, I broke the surface of the water. Half of my cape, all that remained, floated behind my soaked neck fluff. When I realized that whatever it was hadn't intentionally released its hold, taking a mouthful of my cape with it, I descended into a sophisticated panic. My limbs were not flailing. I was swimming. And no matter what anyone tells you, I did not scream. I shouted for backup loud enough for Ilene, who I prayed to Maxima picked up my call, to hear over my poor attempts at swimming.

I spat water out of my lungs and did what I could to quell my racing heartbeat. Between the drizzle and waves, holding my breath worked better than taking a full breath. With limited oxygen, I knew that I had to get myself under control. Salt stung my eyes and tongue. Water surrounded me in all directions, no shore in sight.

Ears flicked behind me where the sploosh of water moving unnaturally rose in volume. I shifted my chin over my shoulder to see. Something parted the water, and, upon witnessing its true nature —neither an eel nor a seal—, my heart began drumming away again. Not for the first time, I'd bitten off more than I could chew. However, this was the first time I wasn't even the one doing the chewing. The giant metal shark gaining on my position had that covered.

Glowing, scarlet red eyes protected by thick plastic glared at me with an intensity I didn't think I deserved. Melded sheets of black and dark grey metals overlapped to form its outer layer. Similar to its eyes, a red light filtered through the gaps in its two rows of triangular, serrated teeth, the first row smaller than the back row. No wonder why it sounded like a radio. Easy enough to install one in the massive killer machine.

Like any quick thinking, logical cat such as myself, I booked it in the opposite direction, dog-paddling my way out of there. On land, maybe running wouldn't have been my first choice. Combat was my specialty, after all. But, liquid sloshing over my back and against my sniffling nose shot my anxiety through the roof and my decision-making capabilities out the door. Yes, I knew the shark could swim faster than me. But it's not like I could come up with a better strategy with all the chaos backflipping off the walls in my head.

Something pulled on the remainder of my cape, yanking my chest back and hitching my breath. Startled, I squawked, claws out and ready to give that shark something to remember me by. But before I could spin around, the water around my paws resided, and I found myself looking down at the waves. The metal shark chomped down just beneath my toes where I'd been less than half a second ago.

No sooner than I'd been magically lifted, I felt gravity take hold of my weight, and I dropped. Eyes squeezed shut, prepared for splashing in the lake again, I gasped when instead, my paws met a slippery, cold surface. Vibrations rumbled up my legs, and a disappointed sigh left my lips before I could consider whether this was the time to express my incredible distaste toward my luck.

Without a second thought, I set to action. Water sizzled around my paws as a deep, ruby glow emitted from my claws. Translucent warm mist brushed up my legs and chest, dispersing into the surrounding air. The shark jerked violently to circle around, but with the acrid scent of burnt metal, I clung to the melted marks in its back.

"Time to fry some fish," I said with an only half genuine grin. My somewhat high ground and the relief of no longer being shark chum did not excuse the imminent danger of getting thrown back in the waves.

No time to spare, I expertly sliced a molten red X into the metal beneath me, right behind the first dorsal fin. I used the second dorsal, about half the size of the first, as an extra foothold in case my current hold faltered. The caudal fin, a fancy word I learned for tail fin at Sliders' River Camp, was about the same distance from the second dorsal as the second dorsal was from the first dorsal. In the event I lost hold of the second dorsal, I could try grabbing it, but I figured the tail would be considerably harder to ride. Best stick to plan A behind the first dorsal.

The shark continued to circle, chompers clanging shut as if frustrated. Its metal head swayed back and forth, and I figured, if possible for a robot, it was confused about my disappearance. If I had to guess, the camera or sensor was located in either its mechanic eyes, at the tip of its nose, or within its illuminated throat. Somewhere on its head that couldn't see or sense me on its back.

As if to confirm my assumption, a grey-striped purple blur dived from somewhere in the heavens like an ambushing pelican, bashing the shark's left eye. Without a beat to process, the shark thrashed and shook. I clung on for dear life, flattening myself to its surface while locking my vision on the new arrival.

What had been a purple blur I could now see was a tabby cat masked and caped in purple. I knew that her —or who I could only presume was a girl since I didn't recognize the cat— cape and mask weren't S.H.H.A. issued.

For one, they didn't possess a magical concealment. I took in every detail of her grey markings, like a helmet and vest over her white stomach and chest, and knew for certain that I could describe them later to Ilene. While if it had been present, the magic would've worked on me, I still would have recognized the magic existed.

Second, there were only two others in all of S.H.H.A. who owned a nonstandard, stereotypical human superhero disguise: Ilene and my sister, Pudding, or Publia when talking to humans. Those two were also the only known cats with the ability to fly, save for certain powers. Jade and Mouse also fit the bill, but those two were exceptions that I preferred not to think about.

The tabby's claws latched to the broken eyepiece, and, based on the concentrated glare in her eyes and her sliding paws, she had a harder time holding on than me. The shark jerked side to side, and water splashed my back. The tabby's cape flung back and forth, darkening as waves rose up her legs and collided with her stomach. If she noticed, she didn't care.

While I continued to melt through the shark's back, water pooling in the holes around my paws, she took every chance the shark paused to rip cords out of her own target. Sparks lit up around her, and for the first time, I wondered about the repercussions of battling a robot in the lake. Shivers ran up my spine as I glanced down, considering the likelihood of me melting something that might electrocute everything in sight. Images of the electric eel resurfaced.

With one final tug, the tabby pulled out a chunk of tiny, colorful wires. This time when the shark lurched to the side, it flung her clean off. She righted her spinning form and went to fly right back at the robot, but hesitated.

I felt the shark's movements through my legs, the vibrations stuttering and dying. It no longer writhed like a fish out of water —or a cat in water. Instead, the metal monster jerked and fidgetted, water rising over its surface faster than I could deactivate my power and move my paws.

As a wave brushed the side of my shoulder, my half-cape tugged again. Judging by the purple fabric draped over my side, the mysterious tabby was to thank. Just like she'd undoubtedly saved me earlier from becoming shark breakfast, she pulled me out of the water as a flash of white illuminated the silhouette of the sinking shark. As it sank lower and I raised higher, I watched the silhouette grow smaller and smaller, the erratic flashes thinning out.

A million questions tumbled through my mind, the first one blurting out my lips. "Who the heck are you?" I couldn't easily turn my head around to face my dilemma, so I could only guess she made no acknowledgment of my query. Thinking back to this day, I'm glad she didn't respond. After all, she held my half-cape in her mouth, and taking another dive was not on my to-do list. In fact, I decided that I deserved a break from all water-related training and missions for quite some time. Preferably forever, but one couldn't dream too much around Ilene.

Another cat who can fly, I thought as we neared shore. A soft breeze chilled the water soaked in my pelt, but the drizzle was almost unnoticeable. Maxima only granted leaders and their teammates the key to flying. Semi-humans with alternative powers that replicated flight were good omens, but leader's flight was immeasurably more important and sacred. I glanced down at my watch with emotions swirling in my chest, some akin to excitement and others less pleasant. Even I can't fly.

Either the tabby grew tired of carrying my dead weight or she decided that we were close enough to shore that I could swim back on my own because the next thing I knew, the air around me raced up, and the sensation of water surrounding me came back. I freaked out, paws flying everywhere, but I broke the surface in an instant. She must have lowered me before letting go, but I was too caught up in thought to notice.

The numb sensation in my gut from falling evaporated away as I floated, watching the mysterious tabby's retreating figure. The shore was only about fifteen to twenty yards away. She flew low to the ground, disappearing behind one of the many pastel lake houses. Light reflected off the roofs from the horizon which the clouds hadn't yet reached, the sun almost at sunrise.

I coughed to clear my lungs. "Oh man, I can't wait to tell Ilene and Pudding about this."

***

The next day, a white cat patrolled the desolate beach. Various shades of grey covered her head from eyes up and down the top of her neck. A black line on either side of her face touched the upper corner of her eye. It sloped up then curved down like a paint stroke. A similarly colored patch of grey with black stripes, covered her back, separated from the head patch by a thick line of white fur on her lower neck.

She halted beside a hefty scrap pile of metal washed up by the waves. Rust hadn't started eating away at the machine, its sides still dripping water. However, after the storm last night, it broke apart into several smaller pieces. Wires tangled around the chunks of metal and the barely recognizable jaw structure. If the tabby hadn't seen and fought it yesterday morning, she might not have realized it originally resembled a shark.

Olive green orbs surveyed the wreckage until they landed on a painted emblem, the bottom obscured by sand. She took a closer look, brushing the sand away with her outstretched paw to reveal a black gear with a broken heart painted in the center. The heart wasn't split apart, but it appeared broken because the right side was painted black while the left side remained blank.

She narrowed her eyes, taking the entire pile in one last time. With a flick of her tail, she spun back around and walked off without a sound. The waves washed away her paw prints, leaving behind no sign of her visit.

------------------

Hello Readers!

This is L4, and thank you so much for giving this book a shot. It's a story based on comics I used to draw when I was little. Please note that the intended age range is young teenagers and preteens. While the language is entirely clean, some elements of this story are a bit dark for very young children.

Again, thanks for taking the time to read. Comments are cool and votes are amazing.

Have a wonderful day!