The Adventures of the "Four Muskytears"

🌸 Antarctic Bloom [2/5] 🌸

Polar's POV:

I kept pacing in the saltwater pool, my mind swarming with questions about myself that I couldn't answer.

How did I get here?

What am I?

Who made me?

I wasn't born from another animal like a normal organism, that was for sure.

Yes, my being qualifies for all the nine signs of life, don't even get me started.

Yet, sometimes I don't feel like I'm alive either.

Before you start thinking I have some sort of weird disorder, I don't.

And I'm not in denial, either.

These weird, utterly vivid visualizations haunt me while I sleep, and I'm pretty sure they're fragments of a past life I had.

I have recurring nightmares about being a captain on a ship, sailing across the pacific on my final voyage.

I say final voyage because the same crewmate tries to kill me in a duel; The same fight happening over and over again.

A harpoon is fired, a trident is thrown.

I vaguely remember my crewmate's name, but I sure do remember mine.

Captain Tia Aquaticlaw.

She was a powerful woman, courageous and strong in combat.

Paired with her trident, she could easily take down anyone who interfered with her or her ship.

Every dream I had, I was always in her perspective.

Dodging harpoons, throwing her trident, evading constant threats, Captain Aquaticlaw was almost god-like in battle.

I say almost, because at the end of each vision, she always gets impaled in the heart.

Her crewmate, which I remember is named Don, takes her out because he wants to be the new captain of her ship.

Yet he fails like the stereotypically terrible movie antagonist he is because Tia spears him through the chest with her trident.

I don't like violence, but I'm a sucker for action.

That statement probably contradicts itself in a way, but I'm not going to elaborate further on that.

Suddenly, I felt someone's hand shoot through the water and grab me by the scruff, anchoring me in place.

"Mmm!" Their muted voice rumbled through the water, snapping me out of my little daydream. "Mmm, mmm!"

I whirled around, yanking them into the water as I freed myself from their grip. "HEY! Don't grab me like that!"

69 came bobbing up to the surface, coughing and sputtering. "We've been looking for you for the past ten minutes! How the heck have you not heard us?!"

Stifling a laugh, I watched from beneath the surface as he pulled himself to the wall of the pool, clearly struggling to swim in such shallow water. "Sorry, I kinda zoned out. Just thinking about life."

"You're very self-conscious for a youngling like yourself," Jester called from beside the sliding glass door. "Also, 69, you look like you almost drowned."

"That's because I nearly did!" The mercenary robot barked back, hoisting himself back onto dry land. "You know I can't swim very well, I'm not built for that!"

I resurfaced, padding up the steps and pausing to address Jester. "Why'd you go looking for me?"

He put his hands in his maroon hoodie pockets, leaning against the door. "We wanted to ask if we had permission to get something from your room."

I approached him, my pelt dripping wet, and cocked my head to the side. "And what is that?"

"Your RipTrident," 69 coughed, still regaining his breath. "We wanted to see what it was capable of."

I rolled my eyes, padding over to the mercenary robot. "One, it only truly works when I use it. Two, it's definitely capable of obliterating things. Does that answer your question?"

He snorted, weakly standing up. "Thanks, Captain Obvious. I'm talking about how far it can go... Like, how many things can it break?"

I sat on the floor beside him, saltwater pooling around my wet form. "Many, many things. By things I mean literal serpents. Beasts were slain with this trident."

"Ooh, scary. Anyways, we should totally go into a different dimension and see exactly how powerful it is." Jester suggested, gesturing to me. "I wanna see you use that thing to its full extent."

I chuckled nervously, trying to shake off that thought. "Me? Fighting? With my RipTrident? Oh no, I don't think I should do that. You know I'd rather take a more peaceful option."

"Come on, make up your mind, Polar!" the masked man exclaimed. "When we were in New York City, you went absolutely haywire in combat! Now, you're shivering in your boots at the mention of a battle. Where's the battle-loving shapeshifter we know?"

I steeled myself, gritting my teeth. "Jester, you can't convince me otherwise. I know what I want and I'm not about to let you push me to agree with you. We are NOT going to another dimension and putting ourselves in more danger."

He went blank for a moment, stunned by how straightforwardly I had spoken to him. "Fine. Then we won't."

I let out a sigh of relief. "Good..."

"BUT," Jester started up, lifting a finger. "But, can I please test it out? Just for a little bit?"

I raised an eyebrow at him, shaking out my wet coat. "You sure you won't do anything diabolical with it? No manslaughter, right?"

He nodded. "I won't, Polar. I'll be really good with your trident."

The giddy, maniacal smile plastered on his drama mask gave away his intentions as clear as day; Something was off.

"I don't trust you with it." I stated firmly, staring him down. "I'm not giving you my RipTrident."

Jester's face morphed into one of confusion. "Oh, wrong facial expression, my bad."

Contorting itself into a face with the most convincing puppy eyes, he stared at me, practically begging me to let him use it.

Shaking my head, I stayed firm with my belief. "Jester, no is no. You can't change my mind."

"Okay, fine..." Jester sighed defeatedly. "But can you at least come to a different dimension with us? Stick's already on the other side and he's waiting for us to come through."

"You won't have to fight at all, you can just tag along with us. It'll be fine." 69 leaned down, his tone persuasive.

After a brief moment of consideration, I dipped my head. "Fine, I'll join you guys."

Jester let out a child-like squeal of what was clearly excitement. "Finally! Come on, let's go!"

He opened one of his wisteria-purple, misty portals and strode through, leaving 69 and I alone before it.

I looked at him skeptically. "Is he okay, or is he crazy?"

The mercenary robot shook his head. "Nowadays, everyone's just a little bit crazy."

Shrugging, I shook the last drops of water from my fur. "Do we really have anything to lose?"

He smiled at me. "Not at all."

I put up my most confident smile and prepared myself to enter the portal. "Let's go."

I sprung from my haunches, diving straight into the violet rift, ready to take on what was there for us on the other side.