Shark Seraph Front: Drawn To The Venom

Chapter 06

Recap: Matsumi is taken to a swimming pool by Dan and Naomi for his training, however an accident which turns out to be a trap set by the mafioso - Puffer halts this training, and in turn confirms their next threat.

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After waking up, Matsumi is sitting in front of Dan and Naomi with extremely suspicious eyes.
Matsumi: "Who really are you people?"
Dan: "What do you mean? Look, I get that we didn't foresee their moves so soon and we were taking it easy but...why are you doubting us now?"
Our protagonist points his finger at the mute girl.
Matsumi: "Naomi can fight! Yeah! She's no amateur since she was obviously able to land hits on me underwater, even though I could breathe while she couldn't."
Dan: "Yeah! You're right about that but...."
Matsumi: "SO WHY DON'T EITHER OF YOU FIGHT BACK AGAINST THOSE MAFIOSOS? You even have regeneration - something that I don't possess."
Naomi sits and makes hand signs.
Dan: "Well we can fight slow developing therians such as you and take others by surprise, but besides self-healing we don't really have any powers. We can't land a single hit on the boss or his senior subordinates, because they're on a whole other level."
Matsumi: "Ahh I see! Too much to take, huh?"
Dan: "I wish I had a therian, and Naomi too."
Naomi suddenly falls into a state of trance, sweating all over and simply glares at Dan with red eyes. She grabs him by the collar and shakes her head indicating a clear "NO".
Matsumi: "What the....?"
Dan: "No? You mean...you don't want a therian?"
Naomi keeps glaring at him intimidatingly.
Dan: "Naomi! NAOMI WHAT IS IT? ARE YOU OKAY?"
She is feeling extremely uneasy, until suddenly Matsumi splashes a bucket of water on her face. She feels relatively calmer and goes back to her normal state, and apologizes to the two of them.
Dan: "Naomi! Sweetheart, calm down."
She breaks into tears and runs to the bathroom.
Matsumi: "Is she okay?"
Dan: "This is the 3rd time she's had an incident like this, and she never ever bothers to tell anyone what's bugging her. Not even me!"
Naomi washes her face and returns, getting herself together.
Matsumi: "Anyways, Puffer is definitely going to come for us soon."
Dan: "No need to make guesses, I saw this floating on the filled bathtub."
He presents Matsumi with a note. It says -
*To the 2 leeches and the murderer of my lover
I guess my spikes weren't enough for you, but it is my bad immature habit to play pranks on people who deserve them. Feel free to jump into this bathtub once you're both prepared like last time, for this time you won't just be fighting me but you'll be seeing a familiar face as well. 10PM at night is your deadline, else we'll be the ones jumping out and ambushing you. And who knows what we'll do to that kid, so be a sweet couple and behave.*
Matsumi: "Hey! It's 9.45 PM, we need to train more don't we?"
Dan: "Too bad! We're going straight for them."
Matsumi: "THAT'S RECKLESS! I'M NOT EVEN TRAINED YET, WE SHOULD PLAN ON OUR ESCAPE!"
Dan: "Matsumi! This is stage 2 of your training, we're going for it."
Naomi holds his hand, assuring him.
Dan: *closes eyes, thinks* "Matsumi! I hope you can forgive me if something happens to you, this is a gamble I wanna take. We'd be hunted down either way, so maybe instead of being on the run for long we can defeat them now itself and focus on saving the boy."
Naomi and Dan jump into the bathtub, Matsumi follows afterwards. As soon as they swim further, they're greeted by Norihito who stands proud on the sea bed as if nothing had happened despite losing his arm.
Norihito: "Ahh I never get tired of blackmailing through my floral territorial. So you came after all!"
Matsumi: "Ohh hey, seaweed guy! Came for a second helping?" *thinks* "This is going to be difficult, this guy must be better prepared."
Norihito: "Hahaha! Nice one but unfortunately I won't be your opponent today, it'll be my comrade right here. He has a score to settle with you."
On the ocean floor, sitting in gloom is the most awful sight anyone could ever imagine. An obese blob of a man with freckles all across his face and big lips, who stares at Matsumi.
Norihito: "Okay Puffer, I'll make sure nobody interrupts this fight."
The seaweed mossform spawns a big bubble in which he traps Dan and Naomi, and further ties them up using tight seaweed like before.
Norihito: "If either of you two break the chains to try and interrupt the fight, I'll burst the bubble and drown you both right here right now."
Dan: "Oh shit! HEY MATSUMI, YOU CAN DO IT!"
Norihito: "Hahaha! It's no use, he can't hear you outside of this bubble."
Suddenly a blade of seaweed is spawned, appearing as sharp as steel and pricks Naomi slightly, trickling a drop of blood from her throat.
Norihito: "Right now, you're both helpless. There are a number of ways in which I can kill you, but that's not my purpose right now. Puffer wants revenge, and maybe after Shark guy dies I'll just escort you to our boss himself by force. Last time, I was too polite and you both clearly didn't cooperate, so face the facts already."
Dan and Naomi feel helpless, they are desperately praying for Matsumi's victory.
Meanwhile our hero is greeted by the ugly, hideous blob of a man.
Matsumi: "What? So you're Puffer huh?"
Puffer: "You bastard......YOU MURDERER!!!! YOU KILLED RIKA, SHE WAS THE ONLY ONE WHO LOVED ME!"
Matsumi: "I'm surprised that somebody would love a fat eyesore of a blob like you in the first place."
Puffer: "And you.....you destroyed me......"
Matsumi: "Just shut up and get on with the battle, will you?"
Puffer's freckles take an ugly turn, as they turn out to be holes containing spikes. The spikes come out, and give him an extremely horrendous psychotic appearance.
Puffer: "PREPARE TO DIE!!!!"
Puffer swims towards Matsumi, only for our hero to immediately dodge it.
Matsumi: *thinks* "A Porcupinefish therian? It certainly can be dangerous, but he's slow as hell."
Puffer swims again towards Matsumi, only for him to dodge it again.
Matsumi: "Can't be happening, it just feels so stupid here. Maybe he's upto something else."
Our hero decides to take the risk and punches the enemy in his giant, bulging stomach.
Matsumi: "How'd ya like that? I've known how to land a punch for quite a long time."
Puffer feels the punch, and slightly expands. However he continues to move towards Matsumi as if nothing happened. Taking advantage of his slow swimming speed, Matsumi reappears from behind and punches him again in the gut.
Matsumi: "Whoa! I'm actually able to punch him."
He repeats the same process, but this time he decides to land a barrage of punches on the enemy blob's stomach as it was the only effective place knowing that his face was spiked. Surprisingly, Puffer is nearly unaffected.
Matsumi: "Damn! He must have some resilience."
Suddenly Puffer takes a deep breath, and his breath seems to be creating a current that not only bloats him up slightly but also pulls Matsumi towards him.
Puffer: *hoarse voice* "I wasn't just playing mindlessly, I was building up tension and collecting air through your punches so that I could get you towards me. Now come to papa!"
Our hero is being pulled by the current despite trying to swim away.
Matsumi: *thinks* "No way! This current is strong. I can't swim away, it's like a sinkhole."
Matsumi cannot avoid being sucked in by the Porcupinefish therian with it's pinhead-esque horrendous face.
Dan: "OH NO! HE'S GOING TO GET STABBED BY THOSE QUILLS!"
To their horror, Matsumi gets pricked by few of the quills in his torso. However instinctively he turns Puffer around with his strength as a last desperate effort and manages to get rid of him despite suffering a lot of damage.
Matsumi: *thinks* "Ohh shit! These quills, they must be venomous."
Puffer: "Hahahaha! You don't look so good right now."
Matsumi tries to regain his composure, however the quills have been effective to say the least.
The enemy suddenly expands further, turning humongous in size.
Puffer: *monstrous voice* "Prepare to suffer for what you did! My venom is already working on you, you should be out cold in a few moments."
Norihito: "Hahaha! It looks like you're both seeing the boss after all."
Dan: *thinks* "No way! Was this a bad decision? But no....not a chance! I refuse to believe that this was a mistake. We'll believe in him."
Puffer: *monstrous voice* "You're worthless! You just act tough, and attack people with no powers using your own abilities. Rika was confident and self-made, she knew how to fight but you clearly took her by surprise and killed her, didn't you?"
The enemy moves away from our paralyzed protagonist.
Puffer: "But I don't think this'll be enough, I want to see more action. SO FIGHT BACK, TOUGH BOY!!!!"
Puffer suddenly rolls on his side, and creates another current pulling in not just Matsumi but the bubble containing Dan and Naomi as well.
Norihito: "Whoa...what the....HEY PUFFER! YOU'RE GOING TO PULL ME IN TOO!"
Puffer: *monstrous voice* "I DON'T CARE! I'LL STILL GET REVENGE FOR RIKA, SHE'S DEAD WHILE THEY'RE ALIVE! I'LL KILL EVERYONE.....EVERYONE"
Suddenly the 3 of them are pulled as well alongside Matsumi. The shark guy feels surprised at the very revelation while Puffer doesn't seem to be listening.
Dan: "NORIHITO! GET ME OUT OF HERE, WE HAVE TO ESCAPE THIS PUFFER'S INSANITY, DON'T WE?"
Norihito: "Huh? Firstly I'm not one to defy orders, secondly the guy you're rooting for took my arm and thirdly what can you possibly even do against Puffer in this ocean?"
Dan: "I have something in mind! Do you wanna be saved or not?"
Norihito: "SAVED? IF I COOPERATED WITH YOU, BOSS WOULD EXECUTE ME INSTANTLY!"
Dan: "Your floral territorial is amazing, to be honest your combination with Matsumi could possibly help in defeating the boss."
Norihito: "WHAT? WHY WOULD I WORK WITH THAT PSYCHO?"
Dan: *whispers in his ear* "Because he's a psycho, he doesn't fear a thing. That's why I think you can be helpful tagging along with him, y'know. He's more capable of defeating the boss with no fear than you think, and he can manipulate water."
The last line absolutely shocks the seaweed man, who despite having taken them hostage is startled at the claim.
Norihito: "A-A shark therianthrope who can control water itself?"
Dan: "The choice is yours! Either die at the hands of your boss, die in the mouth of Puffer or maybe live your life differently rather than in fear of shady people."
The strong current nearly pulls them in front of the overgrown Porcupinefish, but Norihito decides to let Dan and Naomi free. They both hold their breaths, swim and grab Matsumi. The seaweed mossform then looks at Puffer and executes his plan.
Norihito: "PUFFER! RIKA DID NOT LOVE YOU, SHE WAS ONLY THERE TO USE YOU!!!"
Puffer gets angrier.
Norihito: "YOU HAVE SO MUCH MORE TO DO IN LIFE, REVENGE ISN'T GOING TO CUT IT! YOU'LL MAKE BETTER FRIENDS AND A BETTER GIRL!"
Puffer suddenly pauses. Nobody had ever said anything nice to him before, but unfortunately to his dismay Norihito shoots tendrils of Seaweed on Puffer's face, and they lash him without fail. Painful bruises and cuts are created on Puffer's face from the manipulated seaweed, spouting blood in turn.
Puffer: "Norihito! NORIHITO YOU SNITCH WEASEL! YOU PLAYED WITH MY FEELINGS!"
Norihito: "I guess I'm screwed now either ways. Enjoy your next beating, Puffer!"
Dan and Naomi try to wake Matsumi up and while he is slightly conscious, he's weakened.
Norihito: "Does he even have a chance?"
Naomi makes hand signs, somehow Norihito understands after sometime. However both Dan and Naomi pass out underwater, instinctively prompting Norihito to encase them in a bubble where they cough and catch up their breaths. He then approaches Matsumi.
Matsumi: "Seaweed guy! What the....why did you protect them?"
Norihito: "I've managed to spout blood from that puffer guy! Don't you really love the smell of it?"
Matsumi: "Huh? What...I...."
Suddenly another flicker of aura takes place, resulting in Matsumi realizing a major thing. The trigger for his shark manifestation was either blood or an imminent power threat or a combination of both. In full glory, he manifests his shark form.
Norihito: "Oh no....I guess I should distance myself."
The shark looks at Norihito. The seaweed man comically shivers in fear.
Matsumi: *monstrous voice* "Hey you!"
Norihito: "D-D-Don't do anything....I-I already gave you an arm didn't I?"
Matsumi: *monstrous voice* "Thank you for what you did!"
The shark then advances towards the pufferfish.
Norihito: "So the reason he became a shark at that time was because because of his instincts against an imminent threat. That's something, he must have some past trauma or phobias."
With Norihito's help, Matsumi has transformed into his shark form. However, it is difficult for him to control the beast since he barely got any practice.
Matsumi: "Oh no! I really need to work on this."
He advances towards Puffer, who is enraged and getting bigger. His shark therian keeps losing control and swimming in random directions.
Matsumi: "Dang it! I still have no control over this beast, I really need to come up with something."
Before our hero could ponder further, spikes start spawning from the bottom of the sea floor and extending longer. It was unpredictable where the spike could hit, and resulted in Matsumi having to bet his life on dodging.
Matsumi: "What the heck? Is this part of his ability too? Oh wait! I get it, these are the spikes that hurt Naomi at the pool aren't they?"
Puffer is angry and hell bent on destroying Matsumi.
Matsumi: "I gotta admit! This guy is crazy obsessed with killing me."
Suddenly a different type of spike is spawned from the bottom, this one felt like it had it's own pull. The shark is almost pulled towards this spike but manages to evade it.
Matsumi: *thinks* "So poisonous spikes and a pull, is this guy projecting his pufferfish abilities directly on the sea floor?"
The shark is going through an extremely rugged path, trying to avoid obstacles. However, Puffer ambushes him and corners him with 4 spikes behind.
Puffer: "You're going to die either way, and I'll punish those 3 just like you."
Dan: "MATSUMI!!!!"
Norihito: "Oh no! What next?"
Puffer pulls the shark in, resulting in the shark being injured by the spikes, it was over for them.
Norihito: "So it was all for nothing? Rats! That sucks!"
Dan: "MATSUMI NO!"
Naomi is in tears, however the hopelessness and cold sensation of being unable to speak or scream takes over her.
Dan: "MATSUMI DON'T DIE ON US, NORIHITO JUST ESCAPE WITH US AND TAKE MATSUMI! WE'LL DEAL WITH PUFFER LATER!"
Norihito: "You're crazy! It's too late for that...."
Dan: *tears up* "I'M BEGGING YOU! TAKE MY LIFE, BUT PLEASE SPARE MATSUMI!"
Norihito: "What good will that do? Puffer is gonna kill us one day or the other."
Suddenly to everyone's shocker, their young entrusted heroic monster is apparently in a totally different state from what was imagined.
Matsumi: "Sharks are mostly immune to venom, aren't they?"
Even though the shark body is slightly injured, Matsumi opens his jaw and gives Puffer a big painful gory bite leaving a maelstrom of blood.
Matsumi: *monster voice* "AHHHH!!! I LIKE THIS BLOOD!"
Puffer: "AHHHHHH! YOU MONSTER, HOW DARE YOU....."
Matsumi keeps his grip with his monstrous jaws and swims around holding the giant Porcupinefish, crashing it into the very spikes it created on it's own and leaving a trail of the puffer's crimson fluid as he swims rapidly. The spikes on his enormous blobby face break, he spouts blood with every collision and is (ironically) stabbed by a few other of the spikes. Puffer is severely injured and returns to his human form.
Matsumi: *monstrous voice* "I feel sorry for you! Honestly it's amazing that someone as unlikeable as you made it this far. But then again, you're just as bad as the other thugs."
The monstrous shark brutally bites off the defenseless Puffer, ripping him in two and then returns to his human form. He is paralysed but notices something unusual.
Matsumi: "The poison marks are.....gone? Oh yeah I did read it in an encyclopedia once! Sharks are unaffected by Venom."
Norihito, Dan, Naomi and Matsumi return through their bathtub. This time, Matsumi hasn't fainted.
Norihito: "You guys, you guys are crazy insane!"

TO BE CONTINUED........