@DolphinGirl123456
The two cats got to work, gathering the kids and racking their brains to think of any cures. By the end of their brainstorming session, they had talked about pretty much everything except for cures.
"And then... PSHSHSHSH!!!!! The volcano erupts!" Pinto yelled, flailing his flippers around. Kwazii glanced down at the floor, suddenly remembering why they were here.
"How're ye so happy when your brother's literally dyin'," he murmured. Pinto stopped short, looking like he had just been shot straight in the heart.
"Peso's gonna die?" He asked quietly.
Calico Jack stepped in, picking up the small penguin and settling him in his lap. "No one's dyin'," He reassured him softly. "Not when we're on the case."
"Case..." Koshi muttered. "It's like a mystery. We have to look for clues."
"What clues?" Kwazii asked, glancing quizzically at the puppy. "We've looked at everything."
"Not everything," she replied. "We haven't looked at the actual virus," she explained, looking more excited by the minute.
"And if we look at the virus there might be something there that could help us!" Pinto jumped up and hugged his friend. "Koshi, you're a genius!"
The little girl beamed at the praise, hugging Pinto back. "Let's go get Shellington." She said, gesturing to the others to follow her.
The four ran to the lab and burst in, startling the poor sea otter. "Shellington!" Pinto yelled as he fell through the door, and started babbling so fast no one could understand him.
"Woah, woah, slow down Pinto." Shellington calmed him. "What's going on, is everything okay?" He asked as Koshi, Kwazii, and Calico Jack ran in a few seconds late.
"We're fine," Kwazii said at the otter's worried look. "Better than fine. Koshi had a great idea." He told him excitedly.
"What's the idea?" Shellington asked, turning to Koshi. "The virus is like a case that needs to be solved. We can look at the actual virus under your microscope, and there might be something in there that can help us!" She practically screamed.
Shellington took a moment to process that. "Oh yeah..." He started. "And maybe there'll be something we can use to make a cure!"
Koshi's face fell. "Way to ruin my story." She hissed at Shellington. The sea otter laughed. "Sorry, Koshi. Well, what are we standing around here for?" He ushered them all over to his table.
"I don't have any samples of the virus, because I wasn't smart enough to think to do that-"
"Yeah, why didn't any of us think of that?" Kwazii commented absently. "Sorry, Shellington. Continue."
"So we'll have to go get some. How about..." He pulled out a piece of paper from a drawer. "Calico Jack, you can take Pinto and Koshi and get a few samples of the virus," He handed them some test tubes. "While Kwazii and I stay here and look after our patients." The three nodded and headed outside, test tubes in paw. Shellington and Kwazii waved until they were out of sight.
"Well, what do we do now?" Kwazii asked, turning to Shellington. The otter looked dazed, and began to slump. "Shellington? Are you alright, matey?" Kwazii asked, uncharacteristically worried.
"I-I don't feel..." The poor sea otter didn't get to finish his sentence before everything went black, and he fell to the ground.
@thethirdweasleytwin
"Shellington?" Kwazii called again as he caught Shellington right before he hit the ground, "Grandad! Pearl!" Kwazii felt the heart-cracking fear creep up on him again, threatening to swallow him up inside. He couldn't watch anymore people suffer from this virus. First Peso, then the Captain, then Tweak; he wasn't sure his heart could take another blown. Kwazii wasn't sure who he needed at this point, he just needed someone, anyone to help him. Luckily for him, both Calico Jack and Pearl had come running almost the second he called.
"Kwazii, matey-" His grandfather stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of Shellington, pale and fragile-looking and Kwazii, barely able to hold both Shellington off of the ground and himself together. "Is it-?" Kwazii only shrugged helplessly. Pearl was on his heels, and gasped and put her paws to her mouth at the sight of her brother on the floor, but nevertheless, they shook off their shock and helped Kwazii hoist Shellington off of the ground and lay him in his Murphy bed, which Pearl had kindly pulled down for him.
Not 5 minutes after Shellington was laid in his bed, he began to stir slightly. The first thing he saw as he opened his eyes groggily was his sister, Calico Jack, and Kwazii's faces looming over him.
"How are you feeling, little brother?" Pearl asked with concern in her voice, immediately feeling his forehead.
"I-I'm fine." Shellington managed weakly, then he sat bolt upright, "My research! The virus- samples- Kwazii." The poor otter could barely string a sentence together.
"Shellington!" All three of the worried, frazzled creatures gathered around him chorused in frustration and pushed him back down onto the bed.
"Do you feel anything right now, matey?" Kwazii asked.
"No, why?" Shellington replied naively.
"Just checking for symptoms, matey." Kwazii replied and put a paw on Shellington's forehead.
Erm, Kwazii." Shellington broke the silence rather awkwardly.
"Yeah, me hearty."
"Can I go back to my research now?" Pearl sighed in exasperation.
"You need to stop worrying so much about that, little brother. You might have the virus yourself. it won't help anyone if you're working yourself to death." Calico Jack stepped forward and put his paw to Shellington's forehead before looking the otter up and down.
"Arr, he don't look sick, and the fella seems to be in good spirits. I think we've got ourself a false alarm. The poor matey's just overworked."
"So can-" Shellington began.
"No." Pearl said firmly as her little brother opened his mouth to protest, "You've just fainted from working too hard. I will take over your research for now, and not another word about it!"
@Burritogirlboss
Shellington tried to argue with the current situation. "You don't understand, Pearl." He said in a stern tone. "I can work, I just got a little tired, that's all." He tried to desperately get up but Pearl wasn't taking any chances. "Oh no you don't, brother, you're staying here until you're better. Now I'll take over and-" but she was cut off mid sentence by a scream "IM FINE, ALRIGHT?! I JUST FAINTED, I WASN'T DYING OR ANYTHING, BUT IF I DON'T GET BACK TO WORK THEN OTHERS CAN!"
Shellington turned his head to the side, not making eye contact with his sister.
Pearl was stunned, she'd never seen him so angry before. "Shellington I know you're upset but-" but she was cut off mid sentence once again. "I'm the scientist here. I need to do the research on this virus or more bad stuff could happen! If I don't continue working then more people will suffer from this." Once he finished he sighed and put his hands on his face in frustration.
Now Pearl understood; he'd been putting pressure on himself this entire time. Too much pressure to the point of overworking. "I understand, brother, putting pressure on yourself because you have such a big role to play in all this."
Shellington took his hands off his face. "So you understand how I need to get back to work?" Pearl could see exactly what her brother was doing, trying to make his way back to the lab. "No. I don't understand, to be honest. But I do know one thing and it's that you've been stressing yourself out too much. Just take a break. No one will blame you for it." She turned to Shellington.
"So you understand how you need to get some actual rest rather than drinking coffee?" She said and caught Shellington silent. She just played him at his own game. Shellington let out a little chuckle. "I deserve that, don't I?" Pearl put a hand on his shoulder. "And you deserve some rest as well, little brother." She turned to the door and turned off the lights. "Good night Shellington, and I'll take care of the rest."
"Alright then, goodnight Pearl."
@Uniquedoll602
Tomminnow crept into the kitchen with the stealth of a toddler trying to imitate a ninja--efficient, but not exactly professional. The rock from Kwazii and Grandad's recent expedition sat inside here somewhere. And she was going to find it.
Meanwhile, Pearl was furiously deliberating over Shellington's notes and research. She knew her brother was frantic over this--she wouldn't blame anyone if they were traumatized after this experience--but the notes were sloppy, even for him. Ever since they were little, Shellington's whole purpose, or so he thought, at least, was to use his quick and agile mind for the better. Pearl was his sister. She knew it all. She knew it would hurt him the most when their kin started dying, floating around them in corpses, unanimated zombies that were falling apart in the most gruesome sight, the stuff of nightmares. He was so little. She knew he would be so hurt. And with his...deformity...he would believe himself to only be useful through his gifted mind. Pearl wasn't innocent in this either--she had somewhat steered him toward overworking by telling him that his gifted brain made up for his allergy to urchins.
The sea otter population needed more help than ever. And without the ability to eat urchins, Shellington was completely outcast...if he didn't do something.
And now, he was probably dying along with the rest of them, and Pearl couldn't figure out why, Shellington couldn't figure out why, Peso couldn't figure out why, and there had to be some way to stop this, there HAD to be more information out there somewhere, this COULDN'T be a whole new virus, taking the world by storm and killing people off, while they were trapped with it under the ocean, people up on land were dying...
Pearl stopped herself. She needed to think straight. Her brother was counting on her. HIs FAMILY was counting on her. She needed to be calm, and not walk the frantic path her brother had walked.
Between him and Peso, lots of research was done, and lots of chemical compounds were isolated. From the looks of it, Shellington was looking through different blood samples, such as that from Kwazii and Paani, and Calico Jack, for the source of their immunity. From Barnacles and Peso, for the source of their enhanced vulnerability to the virus which had left them bedridden in worse shape than the others. In Dashi, for her average, for a word, reaction to the virus, still sick but the LEAST sick on the ship. Tweak, for her...jellyfish DNA?
How HAD that happened, anyway? Pearl couldn't remember Shellington saying anything about it, aside from sharing the interesting tidbit with her not too far into his career as an Octonaut. She had jellyfish DNA--she glowed in the dark. As simple and unbothersome as that. But WHY? Shellington had asked, but had he ever found and answer?
Pearl could see where this was going. Peso and Shellington, with their chemical knowhow, were trying to find a cure by isolating chemical compounds found in these blood and DNA samples that led to the effects of the virus on different people--the vulnerability, the immunity, the pink glowing DNA that was somehow fighting the virus with no seeable results so far, but results nonetheless? Peso's medicinal intelligence would find a way to combine these compounds into a cure. Shellington's biological grasp would find OTHER places to seek out these chemicals to make even MORE of the cure. But so far, they had left off at a dead end, or at least, a cold stop. The end of the path, with Shellington's recent swoon, open to more research, but how much more time?
Pearl sighed and shook her head softly. Her little brother, all grown up,...and still not over the fact that he couldn't help without all this work.
HIs research would help others.
When would he see the world PAST that personal mantra?
IN the Launch Bay, Tweak was in pretty critical condition. The wormy feeling of the jellyfish DNA in her veins and blood, squirming throughout her to fight the virus, like worms through dirt, combined with the heavy pounding of the virus itself, was laying her low. She felt like she was pinned to the bed, and yet, her body wouldn't sit still. The DNA moved through her, not at it's usual smooth intercourse, the simple flow that she was used to feeling, especially when the DNA acted up and caused her to glow in the dark, but in a racetrack, speeding through her body at a speed that would have it pulled over and arrested, completely at war with her body's inner tantrum, shooting at the invaders with bullet like speed. Tweak wondered how this was goin to end. Probably with her turning inside out somehow. She certainly felt it.
Professor Natquik, currently charged with looking after her, placed an icepack on her head and adjusted the blankets, offering words of comfort in his reassuring accent, but Tweak could hardly pay attention, hardly think of anything else other than the fight going on inside her, like she was filled with bugs.
At least the only comfort she had was the sudden zap, a small bloodrush that told her part of the virus had been fought off and defeated by a piece of the DNA she was blessed and cursed with to have.
She sometimes wondered about that.