Sink or Swim: Drawn To The Venom

Chapter 03

Recap: Dan and Naomi take Matsumi to meet their 3 past associates who happen to have powers as well. However the meeting ends in disaster as both Naomi and the associate Rio are horribly injured.

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For the past 3 days Matsumi has been in his bathtub, trying to summon an aquatic sphere. He tries to spawn a ball of water but always ends up with nothing.
Matsumi: "Dang it! What the hell happened the last 2 times I tried this? Was I just.....lucky?"
In frustration he fires off water droplets on the walls, creating cracks on them.
Matsumi: "Ohh shit! Now the maintenance cost is gonna go high."
Dan enters the bathroom.
Matsumi: "What the heck is with you? Can't you just knock before entering?"
Dan: "You're dressed right now. What's so shameful about being shirtless? Your body ain't half bad, just needs more ruggedness."
Dan takes off his t-shirt as well.
Matsumi: "No that's not what I meant!"
Dan looks at the cracks and small holes on the walls.
Dan: "You know, you really need to be careful where you practice."
Matsumi: "Argh! You don't need to repeat that for me, I already know."
Dan: "You know, Gai asked a pretty valid question yesterday. Can you breathe underwater?"
Matsumi: "Obviously not! If I could, I wouldn't have been suffering so much back then."
Dan: "But your water powers suggest that you probably can. Why don't you just try it out?"
Our protagonist has extreme inhibitions as evident by his body language in front of Dan.
Dan: "What's wrong? The bathtub is already filled! Just dip in once and you'll know."
Matsumi: "Do I have to do that?"
Dan: "Um.....yeah? Don't you take a proper bath?"
Matsumi: "Yeah but only once a week, rest of the time I'm just washing my face and using deodorant."
Dan: "Uhhh....ok! That's not a good thing really, but again....I don't know much about you so just try it now."
Matsumi: "What are you upto? Are you crazy or something?"
Dan: "You wanted to know more about your powers, didn't you?"
Matsumi: "Fuck off! I'm not doing it!"
Dan: "WHY NOT?"
Matsumi: "BECAUSE I KNOW THE ANSWER ALREADY."
Suddenly they hear a splashing noise with a faint shriek from the other bathroom.
Dan: "What the.....?"
Matsumi: "Naomi's in that one, isn't she?"
They both rush to the other bathroom, however it's closed.
Matsumi: "Open it and see her!"
Dan: "You're coming too!"
Matsumi: "What? Me? Dude that's your girlfriend isn't it?"
Dan breaks it open and rushes inside only to see the bathtub full of water, however something feels off. Suddenly a red color mixes into the water, causing Dan to be horrified.
Dan: "NAOMI! NAOMI WHAT'S HAPPENING?"
As soon as he puts his hand in the water, he's pulled in. Unable to breathe, he sees his bleeding lover tied up in what looks like seaweed and her short dress is torn up as well. Surprisingly the water level seems high and the view around them feels as if they were at the bottom of an ocean. In front of them is a man in green swimming trunks, sporting a wide smile and acting cool as if he was able to breathe underwater. Dan and Naomi seem to recognize the man.
Underwater Man: "So! I guess catching you two was easier than expected. You didn't even notice, but my seaweed mossform ability certainly makes you shiver doesn't it."
To make things confusing yet scarier - the man occasionally keeps blowing oxygen into them, using seaweed to create bubbles into their mouths so that they wouldn't drown so easily, but would still struggle.
Underwater Man: "You see, I don't wanna kill you. On our boss' request, I'm supposed to let you survive so I won't drown you just yet. Besides I've heard rumors that you both can self-heal, is that really true?"
Dan and Naomi struggle and feel powerless, they're drowning but forced to stay alive because of the creepy man in front of them.
Underwater Man: "Ohh I'm sorry! I forgot you can't speak here, see I want to take you to our boss right now but there is one problem - the third guy isn't with you."
Dan and Naomi are in shock, as they clearly realize that they had put Matsumi in danger as well. The man continues to sadistically torture Dan and Naomi underwater, tying them up with seaweed and not even letting them drown or surface.
Underwater Man: "I've heard that the 3rd guy killed Rika using a drowning method. I know only a little bit about our mossforms techniques but, is it possible for him to have a seaweed mossform as well? Or maybe a coral mossform? Or one of those, y'know- forbidden powers they call therians? I would like to meet this guy."
Matsumi realizes in shock that both Dan and Naomi have disappeared, the shock of seeing the water with blood makes him piss himself with fear. His heartbeat is getting faster, he can't think of anything to do at the moment. The underwater sadistic torture by the seaweed mossform is continuing, as our protagonist is still in shock.
Matsumi: (thinks) "W-Where did they go? Is this bathtub, some sort of trap? Obviously it is! But......wait a minute? 10 days ago, I literally wanted to kill myself and didn't care what happened. So why, why now? Don't tell me...."
The only things coming to his mind right now are flickers of painful memories from his terrible past, and he is extremely fearful of what he might be in for. He is shivering to the core, but suddenly something else flickers for a second - the memory of the past 10 days wherein he let Dan and Naomi stay with him. It was a memory of him being fed properly, having silly conversations with them and them not being condescending towards him in any shape or form.
Matsumi: "ARGH NO! I don't have to help just everyone, who knows how these two are gonna betray me. But.....but they're nice.....and I agreed to keep the money and help Dan. Something.....doesn't feel good about that."
Our protagonist for the first time ever in his life has a moment of self-reflection, and decides that the two of them were in fact worth saving.
Matsumi: "I'll do it this time!"
Without hesitation, he jumps into the blood pool and finds himself going in deeper. He puffs his cheeks up, however suddenly gets an amazing sensation. A major question was answered, as he is for a fact able to breathe without any diving gear.
Matsumi: (thinks) "This can't be.....I can breathe underwater? No way! I always remembered my mother trying to drown me once or twice she was in a bad mood.....like....is this real?"
The enemy continues with his torture towards Dan and Naomi.
Underwater Man: "So! If the third one doesn't come, your torture continues. If he does, then you might just have a chance to surface up with my permission."
Dan and Naomi aren't giving up either, despite all the drowning and struggle. Their eyes are red, and their skin is getting whiter as a result of being submerged for long as well as the pressure.
Underwater Man: "Is this it for you both? Had enough? I mean, you can get lucky the first time but I don't think you can get a weird water bender to save you all the time. Hahahaha!"
However the enemy is punched in the face by none other than our protagonist, who has reached there thanks to Dan and Naomi's kindness not going to waste.
Underwater Man: "That's rude! You could've just said hi."
Matsumi: "Hey asshole! Let go of those two, I don't know if they're good or bad but as of now I won't let you kill them."
Naomi let's out a struggling bubble, indicating that she's alive.
Underwater Man: "It's fine! I don't plan to kill them or you at the moment, just that you need to see our boss. If you agree to that then I'll release them immediately."
Matsumi: "Ohh and what happens if we refuse?"
Underwater Man: "I'll continue to torture them slowly and slowly, but they won't die. As for you, I'll just let you sit in a corner and watch the show."
Several seaweed strands are spawned from underground, Matsumi instinctively evades them and tries to swim faster.
Underwater Man: (thinks) "I didn't know he was this fast! Looks like we've landed a rare one of those therianthropes indeed."
Matsumi is caught by the seaweed and feels helpless. Dan and Naomi keep looking at him, trying to sympathize with him not fully knowing about his power. He tries to break free, but the seaweed seems as tight as steel chains.
Matsumi: "WHAT IS THIS? How the hell is your seaweed so.....firm?"
Underwater Man: "Ahahaha! I guess we've been successful in our endeavor, so let me escort the three of you to our boss."
Suddenly a flicker of aura in our protagonist shocks everyone, as even the enemy felt it. Before their eyes, Matsumi's nerves start showing themselves through his arms and legs. He tries his fullest to break through the seaweed, and after several moments of struggle - not only is he successful but his skin starts mutating.
Underwater Man: "OH NO! THIS CAN'T BE.......HE'S MANIFESTING?"
Matsumi turns into a bloodcurdling, mutated fearsome creature from hell - an ultramarine shark with multiple eyes on each side. There is absolutely no speech or cohesion from the therian except for demonic roars. Meanwhile, inside this mutated creature is Matsumi himself.
Matsumi: "NAOMI! DAN! WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED? CAN YOU GUYS HEAR ME? THIS FEELS VERY ABNORMAL!"
The shark advances towards the seaweed man, making him spawn more seaweed ropes to restrain him. However a mere underwater plant would obvious be no match for one of the most fearsome sea creatures, hence he breaks through and bites off the seaweed man's arm, making him scream in agony. To make matters worse, his aggressive instincts cause his tail fin to whip and break open the seaweed that was binding Dan and Naomi. He is out of control, once again wrecking havoc.
Matsumi: "YOU TWO! GET OUT OF THE WAY! YOU'RE MAKING THIS DIFFICULT!!!!"
However both his new friends are on the verge of drowning, so he feels helpless again. They puff up their cheeks holding their breath as long as they can.
Matsumi: (thinks, crying) "Why? WHY DID I GIVE MYSELF ALL THIS FALSE HOPE? I'M BETTER OFF DEAD, I SHOULD'VE NEVER BEEN BORN OR LOVED BY ANYONE....it's over....."
But Naomi gently pets the shark creature, and her touch feels soothing. Matsumi calms down, resulting in him reverting back to his original state. The enemy has fleed, as indicated by the environment around reverting back to it's original state. The 3 of them come out of the bathtub. Both Dan and Naomi cough while Matsumi tries to regain his composure to help them further. Later they sit peacefully in his room.
Matsumi: "W-Who was that guy?"
Dan: "Well.....to answer as bluntly as possible, he was the boss' secret trusted assassin - Norihito."
Matsumi: "Nori-hito! Seaweed man? Uh.......is that really his name?"
Dan: "That's not important! Point is.....you saved us a second time today. And we finally know what you are - a shark therianthrope."
Matsumi: "Therianthropes? Aren't those made-up spiritual cult fantasies like zodiac signs?"
Dan: "No! Therianthropes do exist, and the powers are not to be taken lightly."
Matsumi: "Was that Norihito guy a mossform? How the hell did he manage to like, teleport us from a bathtub to the literal sea bottom?"
Dan: "That was his "Floral Territorial" ability, most mossforms have em."
Matsumi: "That's quite the ability.....also now I have a very important question for you two."
Dan: "What is it?"
Our protagonist looks at Dan's lovebird, her body looking complete normal.
Matsumi: "Where are your injuries, Naomi? Do you have a self-healing ability"
Naomi sighs sadly, and decides to tell him. She makes hand signs for Dan.
Dan: "You're right! She apparently has this self-healing ability from childhood, and she doesn't know much about it."
Naomi makes more hand signs.
Dan: "Her parents never told her about this ability before they died, so she doesn't know what to tell you."
Matsumi: "So.....technically you can't have your body damaged huh? Oh and Dan, you don't have scars either."
Dan makes a comical embarrassed anime face.
Matsumi: "So you have the same ability as her or what?"
Dan: "I......don't really know, but I think we can find out together someday."
Our hero facepalms.
Matsumi: "Never mind! You're both weird, but I guess your self-healing abilities could make you less of a burden on me. I'm going to sleep, catch ya later."
He goes to sleep, with the two of them cuddling while Dan sheds tears of joy.
Dan: "Naomi! We did it, we finally have hope! A strong therianthrope on our side, this is beyond a miracle for us."
Naomi wipes his tears off and cuddles with him in the living room.

TO BE CONTINUED.......