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fine.\"\n\n\"How can you even think of leaving Locksmouth at a time like this??\" he insisted. \"When you volunteered to be the first responder to inkling problems, it meant sacrif­icing things like making liesure trips to other cities.\"\n\n\"I don't remember agreeing to that,\" she shrugged with a nonchalant smirk, folding a shirt. \"Max only turns sixteen once. We're celebrating in Anchorsway. Simple as that!\"\n\nIf frowning were a sport, Ironwood would have gone professional. \"And what about the Ink Tank problem??\"\n\nShe unclasped Jacent's old bracers, carefully flattening the articles to slip them into her pack. \"Oh, you mean the Internal Affairs case, which is entirely your fault, that we've been on for like a [i]day[/i]?\" She gave him a dismissive look. \"We're working on it; you're [i]welcome[/i].\"\n\nThe cat seemed especially flustered by that. \"Alright, and what do I do when something falls out of the sky and starts wrecking shop? What then??\"\n\n~(_)~\n\n\"I dunno, probably this?\"\n\n\"GAH!!\" Ironwood turned around in his office to see Natalie standing there, backpack slung over her shoulder, chewing on a bagel. \"How did-\" He looked over to the mirror standing against the wall, 'Police Station' written on it backwards. \"... Grayswift, have I ever told you that you're a pain in my ass?\"\n\n -\n- -\n -\n\nThe subtran station was a much different sight than many weeks the previous, serious reconstruction efforts managing to open up two total inter-city train tunnels despite monsters, tunnel damage and the mysterious disappearance of magnetoscopic variance projectors from the train engines. Barred barriers with big yellow holographic caution borders cordoned off the still damaged areas, making for a clear path to safe travel. \n\nMax walked ahead of everyone else, strutting through the station in booty shorts, sunglasses, sandals and a Hawaiian-style shirt festooned with stylistic interpretations of lizards in sunglasses. \"Oh man I'm so excited! It feels like it's been [i]five-ever[/i] since I visited Anchorsway!\" He struck several poses as he paced. \"S'cuse me pardon me, superhero and wrestling legend [i]superstar[/i] comin' through! Hold my bags!\"\n\nCarrie, who wore some manner of princess dress made entirely of denim and bedazzled with clasps- which still failed to conceal her cleavage, entirely by design- grunted as she walked with easily three hundred pounds of luggage held over her shoulders. \"I'm already holding your bags, goofus.\"\n\nHe shrugged obnoxiously. \"Yeah! Duh! 'Cause I'm a superstar. This isn't hard, Carrie.\"\n\nCat's medstick angled upward in her mouth and vapor blew out of her nose in a huff. \"Just you wait, birthday boy! I'll get you in a hold and give you all the spankings you can handle!\" She tried to make swipes at his shins with her shoes, but he giggled and danced out of the way.\n\n\"You've really embraced these wrestling personae,\" Samantha mentioned with great amusement. \"Are you excited to see the show?\"\n\nThe iguana virtually vibrated with enthusiasm. \"Aw man, yes! It's gonna be so cool! Crushwave and Pyromane are gonna bust it up!\"\n\nSam's smile was ear to ear. \"And you, Carrie?\"\n\nThe cat shrugged. \"I admit it. I'm startin' to appreciate how hard that shit is to do sometimes. I admire it, you know, from a performance perspective.\"\n\nNatalie grinned. \"Ohhh, look at the big industry insider now!\" She poked her girlfriend's side. \"Gonna get a job jumping off ropes?\"\n\n\"Hmph!\" She snorted more vapor. \"If I didn't have a thousand pounds of shit on my back, I'd-\"\n\n\"You'd [i]what??[/i]\" the wolf goaded, showing her teeth. \"You'll have a hard time doing anything when you're-\" she faded out of audibility as she whispered something intensely into Carrie's ear. \"So you [i]better[/i] act right.\"\n\nThe cat flushed visibly, disarmed. \"H-Hey... no fair...\"\n\nThey reached the gate and a calm-looking rat took the tickets Samantha had reserved that morning. Each one of them walked through the gate and made their way onto the train, stowing their bags and taking their side-facing seats. Gren and Ten bounced impatiently, wanting very badly to be there already. \"I've never been to Anchorsway before!\" the tiger exclaimed.\n\n\"That makes two of us,\" Jacent mentioned pleasantly. \"So looking at the map, I'm to understand it's some sort of island?\"\n\n\"Ohh, you don't know??\" Gren grinned from ear to ear. \"Nobody tell him! Let him see!\"\n\nAnd they did just that. The lightly boarded subtran lurched forward, moving them along the station's tunnels. For a few minutes, it was a reasonably familiar sight: lights passing in the darkness to a predictably accelerating rhythm. What came next, however, was confusing: Blue. Endless, empty blue everywhere, in every window. When some debris made itself known, however, the mystery began to congeal.\n\n\"Trash? ... Oh, fish! Wait, fish??\" Jacent blinked and looked about, getting an eyeful through every window he could spot. \"We're... under water!\" \n\nSure enough, the train traveled down at an angle through an insulated transparent tube, underneath the ocean. They'd traveled not off the coast, but under it, and the vast expanse of ocean stretched in every direction. The holographic overlay of the train took on the design of a futuristic submarine, the windows now resembling portholes. \n\nAs the mass transit vehicle circled around, an unimaginably bright cluster of circuit-esque light shone along the sea floor like a multifaceted jewel, refracting under a strong force dome shaped more like a convex lens than land domes' enormous half-moon. As they got closer to the sea floor, the tunnel they traveled through became more and more dotted with thick, sturdy H-shaped segments, until eventually all view outside became completely obfuscated by the structures. \"This is amazing...\" Jacent whispered, taken in by the spectacle.\n\n\"And this guy went to Space [i]before[/i] it was easy!\" Nat grinned, punching his arm lightly.\n\n\"Dude, you're gawkin' like a tourist!\" Max laughed at him.\n\n\"Ah, you're right!\" he noted. A city filled with strange creatures from the sea, swallowed in the depths? A city of eternal darkness! Who knew how dangerous it would be, how unfriendly the locals might be?? \"I'll have to be careful.\"\n\n -\n- -\n -\n\n\"Hiiieeee~! Welcome to Anchorsway!!\" exploded an extremely energetic bottlenose dolphin from behind the counter.\n\n\"H-... Hello?\" Jacent replied, taken aback by the plush interior of the hotel into which the South side of the train station directly funneled. \n\n\"Hey Josie!\" Max greeted, walking up with his hands in his pockets, clearly too cool for school.\n\n\"Max!!\" She redoubled her enthusiasm somehow, picking up the iguana and spinning him around. \"You've grown so much! How come you haven't come to see me before now??\" She looked at the rest of his pack. \"Ohh, that's riiiiight, I [i]remember[/i] why.\"\n\n\"Ahem! Yeah, about that,\" Natalie called attention to herself. \"Are we gonna have any... trouble staying here?\"\n\nJosie's face became grave. \"A lot... our lunch trough is so good right now it's [i]inescapable[/i].\" She paused for dramatic effect, then burst out laughing. \"No! No no, sweetheart, you're [i]good[/i]. Anchorsway already had our big referendum on this; after that [i]awful[/i] display in Harbington, pretty much everyone agreed that it'd be best to roll with the punches on this one and extend whatever rights you got in Locksmouth, here. That way you don't have any tension from this direction, and we get that sweet superhero protection!\"\n\nNatalie blinked. \"Oh! U-Uhm, yeah! Right, of...\" She looked around at her friends, nodding and trying to get them to nod with her, to only some success. \"Of course!\"\n\nJosie marched back behind the counter and sat on the stool, posing with her hands on her thighs and giving a chesty flourish of resoluteness. \"Super. Duper.\"\n\n\"C'mon Josie, give us our rooms!\" Max goaded her, grinning and poking her ribs.\n\n\"Ah! Hey! You little monster!\" She grinned and poked him back. \"Alright alright, I'll be professional [i]I guess.[/i]\" She passed out thin blue sticks with green lights on the ends of them, then gestured to the hallway toward the elevator. \"Enjoy your stay at the Breakwater Inn!\"\n\nBlues and greens made up the majority of the place. Turquoise couches in the lobby held seafoam pillows, the walls displayed calming low-frame animations of splashing waves, and the floor was a an attractive light blue textured mesh, green beads pressing underneath their feet comfortably. The elevator was nautically themed, playing a relaxing bass and piano dirge with a muffled kick-hat-snare backing. Far from the hundred fold mini-room format Jacent was familiar with, each floor only held a small handful of much more expansive rooms, very simply furnished and clean, if a bit cool for those who didn't have fur. The main living area was a large circular affair, in the middle of which sat a semi-circular bench just outside of a depression in the floor that served as a dining and entertainment area, as indicated by the singular news display tablet sitting on the blue containment field floating at bench height. To one side, a window displayed the breathtaking lights of the city. Another cardinal direction over, a large, curved wall upon which an eye-catching demo reel of entertainment features and attractions played. Opposite that, a semicircular arrangement of four spacious beds.\n\n\"Oh cool, these ones!\" Gren hopped onto one of the beds and crawled over to where the headboard would be, grabbing a latch and pulling down a fabric canopy that covered it entirely, ensuring privacy. Opening it again, she grinned. \"I love these!\"\n\n\"Neat!\" Carrie responded. \"I call this one for me 'n Nat. The nerd boys can take that second one.\"\n\n\"Okay, sounds good to me,\" Kei smiled, breathing in the cool atmosphere from his chair as he locked fingers with Erwin. \n\nMax piped up, taking Gren and Ten into playful neck locks. \"Me 'n the kids can share a bed! We'll be up all night trading scary stories anyway.\" He made spooky finger motions. Gropey made a gurgling sound, looking down at him from his head. \"... Not [i]too[/i] scary.\"\n\n\"Then that leaves the last one for Sam, and Jace!\" Natalie nodded.\n\n\"Uh.\" Shelly raised her hand. \"What about me?\"\n\n\"Oh, right,\" the wolf noted, looking over the beds and their assigned occupants. \"As much as I'd love it, Shelly and Carrie's tits would suffocate me in my sleep.\"\n\n\"We'll take Shelly!\" Erwin spoke up.\n\nNat tilted her head. \"You sure she won't be in your way?\"\n\nKei smiled from ear to ear. \"I am fine with Shelly being in the way.\"\n\n\"Aww, you guuuys!\" Shelly made a pouty-lipped smile before hugging Kei from behind- something he visibly appreciated.\n\n\"C'mon, guys!\" Max beckoned. \"Put your stuff down and lemme show you Anchorsway!\"\n\n\"You guys go ahead,\" Erwin excused himself. \"Kei and I wanna rest after that train ride down here. We'll catch up with you.\"\n\n\"Yeah,\" Carrie quipped. \"Don't hurt yourselves with all that 'resting.'\"\n\n -\n- -\n -\n\nLocksmouth's walk paths were all grass and sand, bits of forest that crossfaded into bits of beach. In Anchorsway, however, the streets were cobblestone, fat metal mesh and studded rubber grating everywhere one went. Every square foot looked like it was made to safely step out of the shower onto, and that was very probably the point. Instead of a city clouded in darkness, as being this deep under the ocean would have suggested, some opaque manner of technological contrivance was used to refract and amplify the water from the light above, casting a natural incandescence from the domed ceiling that played on the features of everything below it with the kind of gentle wave patterns one expected from a poolside patio.\n\nA lithe mackerel idly adjusted a machine on the side of the midwalk, which held together an amazing sight: a ten foot tall figure eight made of water, contained only by air. They saw the group coming and began running their hand through the structure, to show it was permeable. \"Hey hey!\" he called, flicking small colored rings into the inexplicable shape. They tumbled and flowed through the thing, propelled by an incredibly precise current within it. Putting on special gloves, he manipulated the shape of the water circuit, pulling at it without interrupting the flow or breaking the loop. Within moments, he was pulling the watery snake over his neck like a feather boa, looping it around his leg, even showing his hands to them afterward, impressing that they were still dry.\n\n\"That's amazing...\" Jacent marveled. \n\n\"That's just a street performer!\" Max pulled up some kind of rating application on his PET, for which the mackerel thanked him. \"They're all [i]over[/i] Anchorsway. Give 'em a star, it's how they get paid.\"\n\n\"Ah, right!\" Jacent came out of his daze to note that his PET was already displaying the necessary menu- easy, as it should have been. \"I just meant... I mean, how did he do that??\" he asked as they continued on past the performer.\n\n\"Like, it's not super surprising. Seafolk invented strong-force containment fields,\" Shelly supplied, looking over another performer who was dancing to a personal holographic lightshow spurred on by her music. \"They're like totally the reason domes are a thing, at all.\"\n\n\"Oh yeah,\" Aren remembered. \"'Cause they lived underwater before, but always had to come [i]up[/i] to see land people.\"\n\n\"Yup!\" Shelly confirmed, pointing to a series of eight foot diameter tubes filled with water that angled and snaked this way and that, various denizens of Anchorsway riding the currents to their destinations. \"Hydrobreathers, domes, the Sealine supply tunnel- if there's a thing that makes it easier to go underwater, they pretty much invented it.\"\n\n\"Which is why they're so friendly!\" Natalie added, stopping to admire the work of a squid who used a combination of ink and thin sticks to paint cloudy, milky pictures of crusty sea captains and salt-ravaged ships in a shallow pool of water. \"Sharing their culture just comes naturally.\"\n\n\"And so does sharing their flesh,\" Carrie complained, looking aside at a pair of fish girls walking by, jiggling in their ill-fitting jackets. \"Shameless.\"\n\nMax grinned. \"You're just mad 'cause girls down here got boobs like you do.\" He put his fingers in his cheek dimples. \"Cawwie's not as speciaw~\" He cackled, dodging a few of her swings.\n\n\"Shut up! I don't care,\" she pouted.\n\n\"I wasn't going to say anything,\" Jacent mentioned, blushing as the same girls noticed they were being watched and teased the group playfully. \"But yes. The girls, and, erh, boys of your species are already remarkable, but this city is... wow. Is it a subtype thing?\"\n\n\"Actually no!\" Shelly piped up again.\n\n\"Did you [i]have[/i] to ask her a Science question?\" Carrie groused.\n\n\"Like, all extrapolations indicate that your people built fat in like, loose, chunky clusters. But we totally build it in overlapping sheets!\"\n\nHe blinked. \"Is [i]that[/i] why you're all so p-... uh, p-perky?\" He was crimson now.\n\n\"Yeah!\" the butterfly confirmed. \"This is like, exacerbated underwater due to the Meinen-Dugger effect, but most people totally just call it The Soak. And that's why Anchorsway people are like, thick as fuck!\" she said too loudly and enthusiastically.\n\n\"Th-... Thank you Shelly, this has been very educational...\" he trailed off, trying desperately to disappear inside himself.\n\n\"Oh, guys, I forgot!\" Max said suddenly. \"I'll be [i]right back[/i] okay? I got someone I wanna see, in uh, private.\"\n\n\"Oh ho,\" Sam teased him. \"A clandestine rendesvous with a mysterious stranger. Sounds interesting.\"\n\nNatalie put an arm around Sam's neck playfully and grinned. \"We'll meet you at the Salt Bucket for lunch. Have fun.\"\n\n -\n- -\n -\n\nThe blue gem that was Anchorsway twinkled in the basking filtered rays of the sun, the soothing ocean that surrounded it on all sides blanketing everything in a shade that made everywhere feel like a private undersea cove. \n\n\"Anh... hanh... ah! Ohhh~... I'm not hurting you, am I?\"\n\"No, no! K-Keep going, hhh, ah...\"\n\"I'm... so glad you can... feel down there... again!\"\n\"Y-Yeah, I can... hah, f-feel you alright, god!\"\n\"Haha! Ah, ooh, mmmn...\"\n\nThe two boys shuddered on the sheets of the bed closest to the window, panting and feeling each other out amidst the sweat and pungent pheremones. They'd barely made it there, truth be told; their relationship was still so new to them, and the novelty of exploring one another wasn't about to get old anytime soon. Still... \"We should probably meet with the others,\" Kei mentioned. \"I don't want them to think we tried to ditch them.\"\n\n\"They won't think that,\" Erwin assured him. \"Why would they think that?\"\n\n\"Well I did [i]kind of[/i] try to kill them,\" he said plainly. \"When the very first impression you give is the [i]worst possible[/i] one, you wanna, you know, try not to make it worse.\"\n\nErwin chuckled. He saw a lot of himself in Kei in that moment, when he'd first been inducted into the very same pack. And so he repeated the words Natalie said to him: \"It's easier to like you when you aren't trying so hard.\" He scooped his hands, then arms underneath Kei and held him tightly, both of them looking out the window. \"Look at all that. There's so much life out there. Don't you think Animis wants you to live it?\"\n\nHe sighed wistfully. \"Yeah. I guess you're right. I wish I could ask her personally, though. She still isn't well enough to talk to me yet.\"\n\n\"She'll get there,\" the ferret assured him. \"She will...\" He gently stroked Kei's hair as they lie there, watching people bustle about, walking and talking and swimming and laughing. \"Mm. But. You're right. We should probably get going. I'll help you get dressed in a sec.\"\n\n\"Take your time~\" Kei replied, watching him get up.\n\nErwin grinned as he rose, stretching and pulling on a shirt. He plucked a green swimsuit from his bag, carefully replacing his understicker with it; he'd be using it for the day's activities for certain. Looking in the mirror, he teased his hair so that it partially covered one of his eyes. He'd been favoring that look lately; he hadn't paid that much mind when Sam said it looked sexy, but when Kei confirmed it, the old curl-fro was gone. He smirked, regarding his old self. \"Bye-bye.\"\n\n -\n- -\n -\n\nFinding people in Anchorsway could be difficult. The various aquatic tubes that people used for travel meant you could chase someone around town all day even though you technically crossed their path several times- and that was if you knew where they were. Max, however, knew the way to get around, taking alternating footpaths, dive tubes and topways to get where one needed to go quickly. He stepped out of a dive tube, catching his breath and walking briskly down the padded air vents that lined the exits of such devices, which in his case were more for him than his aquaphobic clothes.\n\nWith no fur to dry off, he was off down the topway, an inter-building walkway common to all domes. Gropey looked backward longingly, having greatly enjoyed their aquatic excursion. \"Don't worry, lil' guy, we'll swim a lot more after!\" The cat-eyed blob gave a responsive gurgle.\n\nDown an elevator, through a midwalk, around an alleyway, then back up into a topway. He had to be close. His memories tickled in the back of his mind, his body energized by the thought of seeing him again. It had been so long, and the residential sector felt familiar to him. He finally reached an intercom, pushing the button outside the sliding door.\n\n\"... Yes?\" came a Northerly tenor.\n\n\"It's me! Max!\" He nearly bounced with anticipation, Gropey's eye rolling with the motion. The door emitted a soft tone, indicating it was open. \"Oh man, I'm so excited! Svenson! It's been forever man!\" \n\nHe opened the door and walked in to find a svelte-looking shark boy sitting in his living room alone. He was covered in denim, pants and a snug silk shirt underneath a jacket. He shook his shaggy blonde hair with its purple highlights out of his face and frowned. \"Max... I... this really isn't a good time.\"\n\n\"It's the best time, dude, it's my birthday!\" The iguana thumped onto the loveseat next to him, bouncing him a bit. \"I'm in town with all my friends- oh man I have so many friends now, the pack's getting huge dude, it's like we're all in our thirties or something- and we're gonna see a show, and I figured we could go catch some games or something; oh man, I gotta introduce you to everybody!\"\n\nSvenson sighed, blowing one of his bangs upward. \"You're not going to stop until I come with you, are you?\"\n\n\"Notta chance!\" He beamed.\n\nThe shark boy tilted his head toward a noticeably empty coatrack with a concerned expression, then toward the door. \"I'm sure they'll call. Alright, lead the way.\"\n\n -\n- -\n -\n\n\"I still can't believe Sealand is closed, the [i]one[/i] time we go,\" sulked Aren as he dipped a piece of flounder into some vinegar-like mixture.\n\nNatalie's laughter was kept well inside their table, the ambiance of the Salt Bucket, proud server of now imitation fish meals, being one of a dull roar. \"Are you really that bummed about it? That place is for little kids.\"\n\n\"Nuh-uh!\" he answered petulantly. \"Squidcat says it's for kids of all ages, and she'd never lie to me.\"\n\n\"Uhuhuhuh!\" Carrie mocked the park's mascot's voice. \"Keep your bathing suits on, kids, 'cause it's gonna get real wet!\"\n\nAren grinned. \"You should see Erwin's drawings of Squidcat! They're special.\"\nGren glanced aside at him. \"Do I wanna know?\"\n\"Nope! But I'm gonna dream about 'em anyway now!\"\n\"Joy.\"\n\n\"Mm, speaking of Erwin,\" Sam mentioned, \"Weren't he and Kei supposed to be here? It shouldn't have taken them [i]that[/i] long to 'rest.'\"\n\n\"Oh, oh!\" Shelly pointed. \"Here they come!\"\n\nErwin pushed Kei up to the table gently, a telling smile on both of their faces. \"Hey guys. Sorry we're late.\"\n\n\"Not that sorry,\" Carrie grinned.\n\n\"Oh!\" Jacent remembered. \"Erwin, did you get my text message?\"\n\n\"Oh, yeah. Right.\" He pulled a blue thong with his signature comet symbol on it. \"Forgot your bathing suit, eh?\"\n\nJacent's eyes widened. \"T-These aren't my trunks!\"\n\nCarrie grinned. \"Those things were dumb lookin'. I packed you somethin' better.\"\n\n\"C-Carrie! You went through my luggage??\" He held up the strapless article with dread. \"It's barely anything...\"\n\n\"Good!\" the cat brayed obnoxiously. \"It's minimalist! Remember, Jacent, you can't reach inner peace if you don't free yourself from the material, or some zen bullshit like that.\"\n\nHe frowned. \"That's not how it works!\"\n\n\"Ah ah ah!\" she taunted. \"Embrace tranquility!\"\n\nHe placed his knuckles on top of her head. \"I'll make [i]you[/i] embrace tranquility!\"\n\nCarrie giggled. \"Finally you fire back! Come get some!\" She grinned and pushed her arm against his in a petty contest of strength.\n\nSam smiled easily, chin on the backs of her bowed fingers. \"Be careful pussy, he knows you're ticklish.\"\n\nA salty-looking pirahna waittress with sharp teeth and an eyepatch came over to their table. \"Oakenfield?\" She held up a note. \"Someone wanted me to give this to you, but they already left.\"\n\nThe cat stopped rough-housing with Jacent. \"Oh. Uh, thanks,\" she acknowledged, opening it up and reading it. She made a confused face.\n\n\"What? What is it??\" Gren asked. \n\nCarrie shrugged. \"I have no idea.\" She turned it outward.\n\n[Hope you're enjoying the water. There's more than you think.]\n\n\"That's weird,\" Natalie commented after a long pause. \"Don't those kinds of things usually come with a logo so you know what they're advertising?\"\n\nSamantha regarded it thoughtfully. Carrie just snorted. \"It's probably some fan. Couldn't bear to talk to me face to face.\" She opened an eye toward Jacent. \"Or maybe it was just the smell!\"\n\nJacent re-initiated their contest of strength. \"At least I smell like a person and not a walking [i]birthday cake[/i].\"\n\nErwin held up his PET. \"Speaking of birthdays, Max says he's ready to group up again. We'll have to get those cod dippers to go.\"\n\nKei nodded. \"That's okay! You can eat them off my lap. I-I mean! I'll keep them on my lap.\" He turned and wheeled away toward the counter.\n\nEveryone looked at Erwin. He shrugged and grinned.\n\n -\n- -\n -\n\nAnchorsway's lights glimmered brilliantly through the glass of the topways. It was like a multifaceted gem, able to dazzle in different ways if one only looked at it from a different angle. The rubber over the grated floor felt good on Max's bare feet, and the cool salty air was refreshing. \"Aw man I don't think I could ever get used to living here. It's like the lost city of Atlantis, bro, so cool...\"\n\n\"Yeah, well, it's just pretty on the surface,\" Svenson noted, hands in his jacket pockets. \"The real treasure is what it attracts.\" He unashamedly stared at Max's round, thick butt as it undulated underneath his water-resistant shorts. \n\n\"Hah!\" Max turned suddenly, catching him in the act. \"Gotcha!\"\n\nThe shark chuckled. \"You've grown well, Max.\"\n\nThe iguana did a silly dance, doing some approximation of The Monkey. \"Gotcha-gotcha-gotcha-got-\"\n\n\"... But still haven't grown [i]up[/i].\" Svenson passed him.\n\nMax blinked and caught up with him. \"Hey, why'd we stop dating, anyway? You were so into me.\"\n\nThe other boy rolled his eyes and smirked. \"Because you lost my Grandmother's necklace?\"\n\nHe stiffened. \"W-Wait bro, I told you! The Gremulaks of Ipsolon 9 took it! They needed it as a fuel source to repel the conquering Janxo Collective!\"\n\n\"... And because you never take anything seriously.\"\n\nMax blinked, watching the shark walk away, into the entertainment plaza.\n\nBluereef Stadium was a sight to behold. For as many lights and sparkles the city of Anchorsway offered, this bearer of spectacle was bound and determined to be the one that shone the brightest. A spiraling walkway intermixed with capillary dive tubes, filtering excited patrons from near and far. Young and old alike had gathered to take in the show, chattering excitedly with hats and banners and costumes that celebrated their favorite wrestlers. A young dolphin boy excitedly waved around his blue foam rubber fins with the word 'Crushwave' printed on them, while a bear woman held close to her chest a hand-drawn picture of a lion who had dyed himself flaming red and yellow, clearly rooting for Pyromane.\n\n\"Do people really get [i]this[/i] worked up about wrestling??\" \tSamantha queried, sitting atop Jacent's shoulders, chin on his head as she looked down around the crowd- the benefits of being vicariously tall pleased her.\n\n\"I'm surprised you don't!\" Jacent responded cheerfully. \"It's the very height of melodrama. Friendships formed, partners torn, glory, betrayal, politics and intrigue... all expertly choreographed.\"\n\n\"Hum! I've never thought of it as performance art...\" she posited thoughtfully, gazing over the crowd. \"Oh! Wait, I recognize them! Benson!\"\n\n\"Huh?\" Natalie followed Sam's enthusiastic finger-pointing to the blonde-and-purple haired boy walking casually through the crowd, with Max trailing behind him, trying to catch up. \"Whoa, no way!\"\n\nHe spotted them and blinked. \"Natalie Grayswift?\" \n\n\"Svenson Bluskal!\" the wolf grinned. \"Hey, it's super loud out here, why don't we all duck in there?\" The group of them made their way into the bathroom, filing one by one. The one person in there already had just finished, and left. \"So this is who you went to go find, Max? Wow, it's been a while, hasn't it? I haven't seen you in... years.\"\n\n\"Hah, well I've seen you,\" Svenson replied, smirking. \"On the News.\" \n\n\"Haha, ah well, you know.\" She pivoted. \"So! We've had some additions since you last saw us. Say hello to Shelly-\"\n\n\"I remember Shelly, yes!\" he laughed, waving at her.\n\n\"Gren, Aren-\"\n\"Hey!\"\n\"Hiya!\"\n\n\"Haha, they're cute,\" Svenson smiled.\n\n\"And Jacent!\"\n\n\"Oh yeah, the ancient guy!\" The shark boy regarded him with some wonder. \"You know there's like four hundred historians who want to talk to you, right?\"\n\nHe frowned. \"A-As soon as I figure out this 'forum' thing I'll answer them, I swear.\"\n\nHe laughed. \"It's good to see you again, and with new friends. But.\" Svenson cocked a brow. \"Are you... still the same people I knew?\"\n\n\"We had the aliens when you knew us, bro!\" Max responded. \"We just... didn't know yet! Like in Alien- ohhh, er, The Thing- ahhh, no, not like that, um-\"\n\nCarrie neck-locked Max suddenly. \"What this spastic little gremlin means to say is that we're still the same people you knew.\"\n\nThe shark boy shook his head. \"No. That's not true. The dorks that I knew back from Locksmouth couldn't have saved the world.\" He smiled. \"You're definitely different now.\" He looked at the iguana. \"Well except for Max. He's pretty much the same silly boy.\"\n\nMax opened his mouth as if to say something, but the words never came- an unusual circumstance for him.\n\nSvenson took a breath. \"Though, uh. I have to admit, I didn't quite want to come because... I don't know where my parents are today? I mean maybe they both just so happened to work very late without calling me... and turned off their PETs... but, I'm a little worried?\"\n\nSamantha muttered, \"Oh thank goodness an out- I would be [u]glad[/u] to help you locate your parents, Svenson! The rest of you can enjoy the show, just leave it to me.\"\n\n\"You wanna go too, Max?\" Natalie asked.\n\nThe iguana licked his lips. \"Ah... no, no that's cool man. You just... go ahead. I hope you find your parents.\" \n\nA rumbling was heard from outside. \"The show's starting!\" Gren said excitedly. \"Let's get out there!\" \n\nThe relative groups split off as they exited the bathroom, but Natalie leaned in to Carrie. \"Is it just me or was that the most weirdly reserved I've seen Max probably ever?\"\n\nCarrie nodded in agreement, looking at him sidelong. \"Yeah. The fact that he wasn't weird was... [i]weird[/i].\"\n\n -\n- -\n -\n\nWrestling entertainment had changed.\nTo be sure, the staples were there: body-building specimens of humanity in little clothing sending each other flying with bombastic aplomb to raucous color commentary. But the costumes were of a much higher pedigree, looking like they were made for a high-budget movie instead of a very violent play. Special effects were set to dazzle, holographic, practical and pyrotechnic displays coming together to sell the action to an excited crowd eager to lose themselves in the fantasy. The last notable exception was the fact that men and women wrestled together. The figures they cut were much more similar than the ones of their evolutionary predecessors, and this lack of sexual dimorphism lent the matchups more dynamism than ever. Case in point, a muscular raccoon woman proudly festooned in stereotypical striped prison garb held a hammerhead shark's arms behind him as she ground her heel into his back, laughing at the jeering audience and the man's agony.\n\n\"C'mon already!\" Carrie hollered. \"Get out of it and give her the Hammer!\"\n\nAs if responding to her plea, he pulled himself free, powering out of the hold and rolling over to get her in a clutch with his legs. He rolled again and pulled himself up by the ropes, pulling back further and further, forcing the bandit to bend over backwards. She pounded the mat, yelling out in pained displeasure that he'd escaped her ingenious trap.\n\nMax gasped. \"Watch out!!\"\n\nHearing the crowd's warnings, the shark spotted the raccoon's tag-team partner, a pig with a clear money theme, attempting to sneak in behind them, turning to kick him in the face and disarm the threat, then putting her back in an even more painful-looking hold. After a few agonizing seconds of surprise and recalcitrance, she tapped out to a loud cheer from the audience.\n\nA handsome clownfish with slick hair grinned from the spectator table. \"Ohhhh! Can you believe what we just saw, Jim?!\"\n\nA comically undersized bull gestured frantically. \"Inconceivable, Mick! The Iron Hammer just took out the entire tag team of Banks and Robber by himself! Has that [i]ever[/i] happened before??\"\n\n\"Well if it has, it's never been done with that kind of style before; look at him soak up the attention!\"\n\"Oh and he deserves it, that injury put him out for two months! He was just begging to wrestle again!\"\n\"Didn't slow the Hammer down one bit!\"\n\nNatalie turned to Max, smirking. \"Are you having a good birthday, buddy?\"\n\nThe iguana gave her a big smile, eyes shining. \"Yeah.\"\n\n\"Aw, good!\" The wolf put a muscular arm around him and ruffled his head frills. \"Oh, whoops!\" She held out her hand to see a disheveled blob with a rolling eye in it. \"Sorry Gropey!\"\n\nThe announcers heard a musical cue. \"... And speaking of not slowing down, it's time!\"\nThe lights dimmed. \"Ohhhh here it comes, folks, the main attraction!\"\n\"You've been waiting two months for this!\"\n\"You've seen them win the tag team belt from the Tiger Twins!\"\n\"You've seen them divided by a bitter rivalry over their mutual love of Towel Boy Tammy!\"\n\"And now, see them fight each other in a no-holds-barred Iron Man match to end them all!\"\n\nAn orca climbed into the ring, holding the two headlining competitors, unconscious, by their leotards, and dropped them onto the mat to a confused silence. She then produced a microphone. \"... Sorry. Crushwave and Pyromane won't be wrestling tonight.\" \n\nMax's eyes went wide as the crowd let out a roar of disapproval. \"Uh dude, is it just me or do they look like-\"\n\n\"Khurl...\" Carrie cocked a brow.\n\n\"But don't worry!\" Khurl assuaged the audience. \"You can still get crushed by waves.\" She pointed straight up. \"I've stolen this dome's field dispersement codes. They've been localized to a timed dead-man switch that only I know the location of. I also have a compatriot who has a switch of their own. If anyone tries to leave Anchorsway, I'll shut off the dome. If anyone tries to interfere, I'll shut off the dome. And finally, if your [i]heroes[/i] can't manage to beat me, I'll shut off the dome, drowning and crushing everyone in this polished sham of a city.\" She motioned to the crowd as the murmurs began to become very confused and agitated. \"Arus? Koralo? I know you're out there. [i]Come on up[/i].\"\n\nSam came onto Jacent's holographic PET display, distressed and clearly in some corner of a facility. \"Natalie she's right! Benson-\"\n\"Svenson!\" \n\"-His parents work at the dome generator, and all the engineers have been rendered unconscious!\"\n\nNatalie blinked. \"... Guys I don't know what's happening, but for now? Go with it. I'm gonna figure something out, okay?\" She took Gropey from Max. \"Just... keep everyone from panicking.\"\n\nCarrie immediately began stalking forward. Max followed suit, and made a slight detour to the announcers, who were in disarray, whispering to each other.\n\n\"Isn't she a criminal?? I think this is real!\"\n\"Somebody call the cops, we need to-\"\n\nMax put his hand over the microphone and hissed, \"Guys, it's a work!\"\n\nThey both looked confused, glanced at each other and threw up their hands, getting back into character. \"Ladies and gentlemen I wouldn't leave, I think she's serious!\"\n\"For your safety and everyone else's, we can only advise you to stay on the edge of your seats!\"\n\nSatisfied, Max ran his way up to the ring, inking over as he did. The orca seemed enormous, even bigger than the last time somehow. \"Uh, hey Khurl. You know, if you wanted a rematch, all you had to do was call!\"\n\n\"Shut up,\" she said with all the inflection of a venom-tipped knife. She ripped off the robe she'd come in, revealing herself to be wearing only a very small bikini. It was the body underneath it that shocked them both. She was a walking mass of sinew, muscles on her muscles bulging out from places that looked almost dislocated. Scars looked like they were from pure muscle mass bursting open from her flesh; the display was so gratuitous as to make them both uneasy.\n\n\"Aw, gross!\" Max winced.\n\n\"Dude, what the fuck,\" Carrie burst. \"It's a gym, not your [i]house[/i].\"\n\n\"My body is gorgeous,\" Khurl said with great anger. \"None of you [i]fakes[/i] can understand that!\" She swung at Carrie, which the cat actually ducked- then swung a second time and connected with such force that it knocked her on her back. \n\n\"Gah! Fake??\" Carrie awkwardly got to her feet, clearly more surprised than hurt. \"We're in Anchorsway, how can you think [i]mine[/i] is fake??\"\n\nMax climbed onto Khurl's back, attempting to put her in a sleeper hold, but the orca reached behind her and flung him into Carrie, whose arms- and breasts- cushioned the impact. \"Not your body, stupid, your personality! Just like everyone else in this city!\"\n\nFor her part, Carrie smoothly transitioned him to his feet again, as they'd practiced many times. She signaled to Max, grabbing arms with him, running forward in tandem and jumping into a flying double clothesline. Khurl put her hands up, but the momentum carried her down to the mat. The two of them couldn't help but roll to their feet and bask momentarily in the crowd's reaction. \n\nKhurl grabbed their feet out from under them, making the duo faceplant as she rose behind them. \"Let's see how these fake people with their fake smiles like it when their fake violence has real consequences!\" With impossible strength, she turned with enough force to swing both of them by their feet, spinning three full revolutions before flinging the two of them away. \"HRGH!\"\n\nCarrie flipped over the ropes and fell on the ground with a heavy thud, but Max managed to grab them on his way past, flipping once, perching on the top rope, then turning around and pointing dramatically. \"Saving throw!\" Khurl's face soured, and he remembered Svenson's words. \"Uh, ah, y-you won't get away with this!\"\n\n\"You won't get away with this...?\" Carrie climbed up, sliding back into the ring. \"Surprise bitch!\" She leapt onto Khurl, arms around her neck and became momentarily superdense, slamming her back down on the mat. \"C'mon man!\"\n\n\"We're gonna... uh... knock you out!\" Max declared, running up for a leg drop. Khurl caught his leg and swung him into Carrie, bowling them both over. She kicked them out of the ring under the bottom rope, landing in a heap by the ring side. \"Ohhhhhh wow that sucked...\"\n\n -\n- -\n - \n\nEarlier that day, Anchorsway had seemed a glimmering wonderland of underwater fantasy.\n\nNow it was looking more and more like a capricious death trap.\n\n\"Okay. They're obviously going to be monitoring the trains.\" Natalie shifted her weight from one leg to the other, deep in thought. \"Erwin, Kei, Shelly, try and see if you can take away their remote access. Sam, Gren, Aren? Canvas the area, see how many mirrors there are in this place and start aligning them with ones around Locksmouth; we're gonna take advantage of the distraction Max and Carrie are providing and start quietly evacuating people.\"\n\n\"Everyone in the city??\" Gren asked. \"That's like a bajillion people!\"\n\"We'll never get everyone in time!\" Aren worried.\n\n\"Jacent, you and I are the emergency backup. If the first evacuation attempt doesn't get everyone, it's up to us to try to stop the collapse. Let's hope it doesn't come to that.\"\n\n\"I will start taking stock of the structure of this place. There is a small possibility we could ride the bubble up, but power required and the timing would be...\" He frowned. \"Indeed. Let's hope.\"\n\n\"Alright!\" Natalie clapped once. \"We've all got our jobs, let's go, go, go!\"\n\n -\n- -\n -\n\n\"Ohhh this doesn't look good Mick!\"\n\"Jim, this challenger is wiping the floor with the heroes from Locksmouth, things are looking [i]very[/i] bad for the home team!\"\n\"Are they gonna get counted out??\"\n\"I don't think so, no ref is gonna hold them to the rules when survival's on the line!\"\n\nCarrie winced as she raised a bit, rubbing her sore head. \"Max [i]what[/i] is goin' on with you? I need distractions, where's all your random shit??\"\n\nMax licked his lips, looking up at the orca slowly lumbering into view. \"I... I can't! This is serious!\"\n\nThe cat stared at him, confused. \"Max.\" She took him by the shoulders, her blue eyes shining in the bright stage lights, and said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world: \"Just because you're joking doesn't mean you're not serious.\"\n\nThe iguana blinked several times, gazing down at the floor, then up at the crowd as the cat stood. \"... You [i]get[/i] me.\" He pushed himself up. \"... Yeah.\" He grabbed the ropes. \"Yeah!\" He launched himself up onto the top rope, perched on it. \"YEAH- oh, oh crap!\"\n\nKhurl had inked over while they were recovering, and in that time she'd burst a pipe open, manipulating the water in it into a huge fist shape that nearly decked Max's entire body. Instead it just slammed into Carrie, who slid back into the ropes after barely clearing them in the first place.\n\n\"Foolish fool! You think the smell of wet cat can stop us?!\" Max made a taunting gesture at the orca. \"Woopwoopwoop!\" He bounced out of the way of a huge watery right hook that pressure-washed years of sweat stains off the mat in moments. \n\n\"Gotcha!\" Carrie grunted, pulling Khurl into a German Suplex and slamming her into the mat with full force- something that would have seriously injured most people, but only stunned the ripped girl. Max followed up with a body splash, landing on her recovering form, then rolling away.\n\nKhurl held her head as she got up, popping her neck obscenely loudly. She raised her giant water-arms and pounded the mat fiercely. Carrie fell on her butt, but Max had seen the tactic coming, jumped to avoid it, and run over to intentionally fall, twisting and launching Carrie right back upward with speed. The cat charged her, grabbed her in a bear hug and squeezed, lifting Khurl's immense form off the ground. \"Aaaaaaaargggghhh!\" The orca growled, raining down a torrent of water. Some of this got into Carrie's mouth, and she released her in surprise, coughing and gagging on it.\n\n\"Hey, hey! Shiatsu! Half off!\" Max sent a flurry of sidelong chops into Khurl's midsection. The actual damage they managed was completely negligible, and her grin was growing sadistic. What did hurt, however, was the full on dropkick that Carrie sent into her side, flooring her once more.\n\n\"Yesssss!\" Carrie hissed, high-fiving Max on the way back up. It was the best he'd felt all day, riding the high of working with someone who understood and could work with his madness. \n\n\"You think you're [i]so[/i] strong!\" Khurl grabbed Max bodily and threw him into the crowd. \"Well it's not good enough for them!\" she yelled bitterly. \"Nothing made me happier than when they stripped you of your weightlifting titles!\"\n\n\"What're you- hngh- talkin' about??\" Carrie grappled with the larger girl, her strength undoubtedly greater, but the other's size bearing down on her.\n\n\"They used to be [i]my[/i] titles!\" she raged. \"Then they found out I had an 'unfair advantage!' But it wasn't unfair! I didn't choose to be born a Reefstone!\"\n\n\"Oh my god, Mick! What a development!\"\n\"Reefstone?? Like Sarah Reefstone, the super-soldier from before the Disarming??\"\n\"I thought they couldn't breed!\"\n\n\"Nnnngggfh... w-wait!\" Carrie trembled as she tried to out-grapple the infuriated older girl. \"They took your titles because-\n\n\"BECAUSE I'M A FREAK!\" she screamed, losing all cohesion and whip-cracking Carrie by the arms like a rumpled rug. \"My body's not fair to the fucking weaklings!\" She grabbed the cat by her tail and swung her around, smacking her into the turnbuckles. \"I'm too [i]scary[/i] to let compete with everyone else! I'm too freakish!\" It was all Carrie could do to brace against the impacts, preventing serious harm to her head. Cat felt herself land. \"And now everybody knows the truth: so are you!\" Khurl lifted her up, back to the turnbuckle, jabbing a finger into her breast over and over. \"SO. ARE. YOU!\"\n\n -\n- -\n -\n\n\"Look, I told you, you [i]have to leave![/i]\" Gren yelled in her inkling form, exasperated.\n\n\"But what about the fryer?\" A deadpan pirahna waittress asked.\n\n\"Forget about the stupid fryer! I'll turn it off, just! Just get!\" the goat yelled.\n\n\"Yeesh, alright, alright.\"\n\nNatalie came up on a hologram. \"How are you guys doing??\"\n\nAren winced. \"The mirrors are all ready, but getting people to listen and come with us is harder than I thought...\"\n\n[.:]\n\n\"Ugh, like. You're not alone, lil' buddy,\" Shelly griped from inside the Dome Generator Room. \"I've got Erwin brute-forcing this override by hand and I don't think it'll work.\"\n\nKei nodded. \"We're gonna need that remote unit if we wanna do this in such an insane timeframe...\"\n\n[.:]\n\n\"Yeah, speaking of timeframes,\" Kelvalde butted in, surrounded by familiar beach. \"Do you think we could stagger the waves of refugees a little? Locksmouth is about to have some [i]very full[/i] public restrooms; worse than that time my dad made Jambalaya.\"\n\n[.:]\n\n\"Oh, don't mention Jambalaya...\" Jacent winced.\n\n\"C'mon, Jacent, you're gonna need all the energy you can generate!\" Natalie urged him.\n\n\"Not to put a damper on things, but I don't think this is possible. Not only is the idea of boosting a city full of people up with an air bubble far beyond anything I've ever done...\" He made a face as he shoved another donut in his mouth, forcing himself to chew. \"My digestive system slowed down when I stopped using my powers extensively.\" He took a long-suffering breath. \"Oh I don't miss eating like this at all...\"\n\nNat frowned. \"Crap. This plan is falling apart. Nnnh.\" She watched the holographic coverage of the wrestling match anxiously. \"C'mon, guys, hold on a while longer...\"\n\n -\n- -\n -\n\nKhurl felt the second dropkick of the day as Max slingshot himself into her. This freed Carrie and enraged her even further.\n\n\"It doesn't matter what you're made of!\" the iguana insisted. \"My parents are clan-breeders! I was sick for like a whole year 'cause they have weird, backward beliefs and stuff! But you don't see me tryna crush a city!\"\n\n\"I don't [i]care[/i] what you think.\" Khurl grabbed him by the neck, lifted him up and sent an incredibly powerful right hook directly into his face, which sent him end over end and face-down into the mat. She then turned to Carrie, summoned her watery arms and siezed her completely between the immense liquid palms. \"If I'm going to be feared, then I'll be [i]truly[/i] feared.\" The cat tried to escape, clawing for any kind of hold, but the structure of her entrapment kept her stuck. \n\nOut of dazed eyes, Max saw Carrie in a position he never thought possible for her: helpless. She'd never been the best swimmer, and had never had to dodge a blow, so her current crisis was one from which she had no power to escape. He tried to get up, stumbling completely and landing back on the mat, his head spinning. She'd hit him [i]hard[/i]. The pain was just a little bit more than he was used to or ready to deal with, and it made the whole world feel like it was tilting. \"Angh...\" He heard something. Out of his distorted hearing, he managed to make out a sound like the ocean. But that was dumb, he was under the ocean. Wait, no. Was it... the crowd?\n\nThey were chanting. For who? For him?? Sure enough, they were looking right at him, yelling at him to get up. But he couldn't, could he? Or... maybe he could. Maybe the only person who thought he couldn't do it was him! How weird would that be? He took a deep breath, and thumped his palms onto the mat. His arms lifted him on his own power. The chanting crowd began cheering for him. His heart swelled; it was a silly feeling, but he owned it completely. It felt [i]great[/i]. \n\nRight, Carrie! She was running out of air- and that girl had a bevy of breathing problems already! It was time. An idea came to him, to them. Koralo's mind worked as one with his own. He turned away from Khurl, darting his yellow tongue out onto the middle of the top rope. The slingshot effect sent him over it and toward the crowd, but he turned his head as he cleared it, twisting back to grab it once more. His tongue stretched, the rope stretched, for a brief moment his butt touched a teenage girl's star-struck face and she squealed just before he shot back at Khurl like a bullet, inverting in the air and slamming into her spine, feet-first with an incredibly loud, echoing ~SMACK!~\n\n\"Ho-ly [i]moly[/i] Jim, did you see that?!\"\n\"I [i]heard[/i] it! The whole arena did!\"\n\"Un-be-LIEVABLE!!\"\n\nIn truth, wrestling was an inefficient way to fight. Many moves hurt the attacker just as much as the attacked. And even though his knees ached, and the side of his face was flush with the mat, Max could tell from the agony Khurl was in that he'd given much, much better than he'd got. He gazed Carrie's direction to see her mountainous breasts rising and falling steadily. Good. Still breathing. \"You rest, Gato Blanco, I've got a fight to finish.\" He pushed, tilted and spun to a crouch, then rose to his feet, taking a deep breath. \"You got two choices, señorita!\" He pointed toward her dramatically. \"You can stay down... or you can face the wrath of Gordo el Gecko.\"\n\nKhurl rose with difficulty, the pain spurring her on. \"I'm gonna kill you this time.\"\n\n\"Bzzt! Wrong answer! Hooohoo!\" The crushing hands of water came for him, but he launched himself forward and out of their grip. On the way forward, he wrapped his legs around her neck, swung around acrobatically a few times and pulled her down with him, slamming her onto her already injured back.\n\n\"ANGH!\" Khurl barked, seething as she endured even more pain to get up again. \"You'll never see your family again!\" She attempted to clothesline him with her watery arms.\n\n\"My real family is a herd of wild yaks!\" He ducked the first, jumping over the second. \"I'm alternate reality Buffalo Bill!\"\n\n\"What are you talking about you idiot?!\" She angrily began slamming her hands down at him in an aggressive game of whack-a-Max.\n\nHe ducked, juked and jived around her angry attempts. \"You're right! I'm more like a piñata!\"\n\n\"Hanh... hanh...\" Her exhausted grin grew sadistic. \"I can bash you and your insides will fall out??\"\n\nHe baited her into a double-fisted hammerblow that nearly buckled the entire wrestling ring, when Max not only ran away from it, but used the rope's momentum to send himself into the tunnel of water, spinning and spiraling and using his body's excellent swimming technique to rocket himself through like a torpedo, surfacing right in front of her and headbutting the churlish orca directly in the face. The water-arms evaporated, her face went tranquil, and she fell like a slain giant for the final time.\n\n\"No. You swing at me, but always end up getting hit in the face.\"\n\nThe crowd surged. The announcers went wild. Carrie coughed up water as she slowly stood with him, for once perfectly satisfied to let someone else have the limelight.\n\n -\n- -\n -\n\nThe evacuation had been handled somewhat well, but people were happy to get back to their lives. Hush puppies at the Salt Bucket tasted even better with the sweet seasoning of victory fresh in everyone's minds.\n\n\"Bitch sprained my tail...\" complained Carrie, getting a promise from Natalie to rub some tiger balm on it later.\n\n\"So how did you guys stop the switch?\" asked Max as he bit into his fish fillet in such a way as to make it into a dinosaur head with big cartoony fish teeth. \"I thought they had some double-blind bag thing or something on it!\"\n\n\"Well wouldn't you know it?\" Sam chuckled. \"As I was helping evacuate people, I noticed there was this one odd elderly rabbit woman who kept one hand in her coat and never actually left with any of the groups. No sooner did you put the [i]smack[/i] down on Khurl than this old girl whipped out a remote and tried to bury us all at sea. It was Sarissa of course; she wasn't expecting me to Judo kick it out of her hands!\"\n\nJacent snickered, his side of the table notably empty. \"I doubt very much it was a [i]Judo[/i] kick. But very well done nonetheless.\" He gave her a kiss on the cheek. \"After that, Natalie ran it to the computers team and they cracked the code, putting the controls back in the safety of the city technicians.\"\n\n\"Very impressive,\" Svenson smiled. \"And I appreciate you finding my parents for me.\"\n\nMax grinned and reclined. \"Still think I'm a silly boychild?\"\n\nHe thought about it. \"... Well, yes.\"\n\n\"W-... What??\" The iguana blinked. \"But I saved the day and everything!\"\n\nSvenson blinked a few times. \"Max, it... wasn't a moral judgement. I broke up with you because I realized that if we kept dating, I would try to change you... and that's wrong. Nobody who claims to love you can put a condition on that to go away. Being silly is who you are, and one day you'll find someone who loves you for it.\" He shrugged and smiled amicably. \"That just wasn't me.\"\n\n\"... Ohhhhhhhh...\" Max realized. \"Aheheh. Well now I do feel silly.\"\n\nThe shark chuckled. \"Now, if you want to come to my place for some special birthday spankings...\"\n\nMax grinned and blushed, looking to his plate. \"Ah... maybe later, man.\" He held up a sprig of broccoli and fed it to Gropey. \"I think I've had enough poundings for one day.\"\n\n -\n- -\n -\n\nSarissa and Khurl sat in silence in their shared jail cell. There was nothing to say. Many hours of planning, many days of reconnoissance to map things out, and just like that, everything went up in smoke. There was plenty of blame, but there was no point slinging it. The truth was, it didn't matter. Natalie's group was out there, and they were in here, end of story.\n\nThey both blinked slowly, almost in a stupor, as the cell door opened completely by itself. \"Try to be quiet, and hold your hands out.\"\n\nIt took them a few tepid moments, but they did. And to all the world, they vanished. All but one boy: Coul Sael. He regarded them with his usual blazé disregard. \"Cedge says you've got potential. But wrecking cities is the wrong way to go. You wanna hear what he has to say, or should I leave you here?\"\n\nSarissa's frown slowly, ever so slowly turned upward. \"I'm all ears.\"", "writing_bbcode_parsed": ""This is completely irresponsible."

Natalie Grayswift stuffed various articles of clothing into her backpack while the disapproving holographic face of Captain Ironwood looked on. "It's fine."

"How can you even think of leaving Locksmouth at a time like this??" he insisted. "When you volunteered to be the first responder to inkling problems, it meant sacrif­icing things like making liesure trips to other cities."

"I don't remember agreeing to that," she shrugged with a nonchalant smirk, folding a shirt. "Max only turns sixteen once. We're celebrating in Anchorsway. Simple as that!"

If frowning were a sport, Ironwood would have gone professional. "And what about the Ink Tank problem??"

She unclasped Jacent's old bracers, carefully flattening the articles to slip them into her pack. "Oh, you mean the Internal Affairs case, which is entirely your fault, that we've been on for like a day?" She gave him a dismissive look. "We're working on it; you're welcome."

The cat seemed especially flustered by that. "Alright, and what do I do when something falls out of the sky and starts wrecking shop? What then??"

~(_)~

"I dunno, probably this?"

"GAH!!" Ironwood turned around in his office to see Natalie standing there, backpack slung over her shoulder, chewing on a bagel. "How did-" He looked over to the mirror standing against the wall, 'Police Station' written on it backwards. "... Grayswift, have I ever told you that you're a pain in my ass?"

 -
- -
 -

The subtran station was a much different sight than many weeks the previous, serious reconstruction efforts managing to open up two total inter-city train tunnels despite monsters, tunnel damage and the mysterious disappearance of magnetoscopic variance projectors from the train engines. Barred barriers with big yellow holographic caution borders cordoned off the still damaged areas, making for a clear path to safe travel.

Max walked ahead of everyone else, strutting through the station in booty shorts, sunglasses, sandals and a Hawaiian-style shirt festooned with stylistic interpretations of lizards in sunglasses. "Oh man I'm so excited! It feels like it's been five-ever since I visited Anchorsway!" He struck several poses as he paced. "S'cuse me pardon me, superhero and wrestling legend superstar comin' through! Hold my bags!"

Carrie, who wore some manner of princess dress made entirely of denim and bedazzled with clasps- which still failed to conceal her cleavage, entirely by design- grunted as she walked with easily three hundred pounds of luggage held over her shoulders. "I'm already holding your bags, goofus."

He shrugged obnoxiously. "Yeah! Duh! 'Cause I'm a superstar. This isn't hard, Carrie."

Cat's medstick angled upward in her mouth and vapor blew out of her nose in a huff. "Just you wait, birthday boy! I'll get you in a hold and give you all the spankings you can handle!" She tried to make swipes at his shins with her shoes, but he giggled and danced out of the way.

"You've really embraced these wrestling personae," Samantha mentioned with great amusement. "Are you excited to see the show?"

The iguana virtually vibrated with enthusiasm. "Aw man, yes! It's gonna be so cool! Crushwave and Pyromane are gonna bust it up!"

Sam's smile was ear to ear. "And you, Carrie?"

The cat shrugged. "I admit it. I'm startin' to appreciate how hard that shit is to do sometimes. I admire it, you know, from a performance perspective."

Natalie grinned. "Ohhh, look at the big industry insider now!" She poked her girlfriend's side. "Gonna get a job jumping off ropes?"

"Hmph!" She snorted more vapor. "If I didn't have a thousand pounds of shit on my back, I'd-"

"You'd what??" the wolf goaded, showing her teeth. "You'll have a hard time doing anything when you're-" she faded out of audibility as she whispered something intensely into Carrie's ear. "So you better act right."

The cat flushed visibly, disarmed. "H-Hey... no fair..."

They reached the gate and a calm-looking rat took the tickets Samantha had reserved that morning. Each one of them walked through the gate and made their way onto the train, stowing their bags and taking their side-facing seats. Gren and Ten bounced impatiently, wanting very badly to be there already. "I've never been to Anchorsway before!" the tiger exclaimed.

"That makes two of us," Jacent mentioned pleasantly. "So looking at the map, I'm to understand it's some sort of island?"

"Ohh, you  don't know??" Gren grinned from ear to ear. "Nobody tell him! Let him see!"

And they did just that. The lightly boarded subtran lurched forward, moving them along the station's tunnels. For a few minutes, it was a reasonably familiar sight: lights passing in the darkness to a predictably accelerating rhythm. What came next, however, was confusing: Blue. Endless, empty blue everywhere, in every window. When some debris made itself known, however, the mystery began to congeal.

"Trash? ... Oh, fish! Wait, fish??" Jacent blinked and looked about, getting an eyeful through every window he could spot. "We're... under water!"

Sure enough, the train traveled down at an angle through an insulated transparent tube, underneath the ocean. They'd traveled not off the coast, but under it, and the vast expanse of ocean stretched in every direction. The holographic overlay of the train took on the design of a futuristic submarine, the windows now resembling portholes.

As the mass transit vehicle circled around, an unimaginably bright cluster of circuit-esque light shone along the sea floor like a multifaceted jewel, refracting under a strong force dome shaped more like a convex lens than land domes' enormous half-moon. As they got closer to the sea floor, the tunnel they traveled through became more and more dotted with thick, sturdy H-shaped segments, until eventually all view outside became completely obfuscated by the structures. "This is amazing..." Jacent whispered, taken in by the spectacle.

"And this guy went to Space before it was easy!" Nat grinned, punching his arm lightly.

"Dude, you're gawkin' like a tourist!" Max laughed at him.

"Ah, you're right!" he noted. A city filled with strange creatures from the sea, swallowed in the depths? A city of eternal darkness! Who knew how dangerous it would be, how unfriendly the locals might be?? "I'll have to be careful."

 -
- -
 -

"Hiiieeee~! Welcome to Anchorsway!!" exploded an extremely energetic bottlenose dolphin from behind the counter.

"H-... Hello?" Jacent replied, taken aback by the plush interior of the hotel into which the South side of the train station directly funneled.

"Hey Josie!" Max greeted, walking up with his hands in his pockets, clearly too cool for school.

"Max!!" She redoubled her enthusiasm somehow, picking up the iguana and spinning him around. "You've grown so much! How come you haven't come to see me before now??" She looked at the rest of his pack. "Ohh, that's riiiiight, I remember why."

"Ahem! Yeah, about that," Natalie called attention to herself. "Are we gonna have any... trouble staying here?"

Josie's face became grave. "A lot... our lunch trough is so good right now it's inescapable." She paused for dramatic effect, then burst out laughing. "No! No no, sweetheart, you're good. Anchorsway already had our big referendum on this; after that awful display in Harbington, pretty much everyone agreed that it'd be best to roll with the punches on this one and extend whatever rights you got in Locksmouth, here. That way you don't have any tension from this direction, and we get that sweet superhero protection!"

Natalie blinked. "Oh! U-Uhm, yeah! Right, of..." She looked around at her friends, nodding and trying to get them to nod with her, to only some success. "Of course!"

Josie marched back behind the counter and sat on the stool, posing with her hands on her thighs and giving a chesty flourish of resoluteness. "Super. Duper."

"C'mon Josie, give us our rooms!" Max goaded her, grinning and poking her ribs.

"Ah! Hey! You little monster!" She grinned and poked him back. "Alright alright, I'll be professional I guess." She passed out thin blue sticks with green lights on the ends of them, then gestured to the hallway toward the elevator. "Enjoy your stay at the Breakwater Inn!"

Blues and greens made up the majority of the place. Turquoise couches in the lobby held seafoam pillows, the walls displayed calming low-frame animations of splashing waves, and the floor was a an attractive light blue textured mesh, green beads pressing underneath their feet comfortably. The elevator was nautically themed, playing a relaxing bass and piano dirge with a muffled kick-hat-snare backing. Far from the hundred fold mini-room format Jacent was familiar with, each floor only held a small handful of much more expansive rooms, very simply furnished and clean, if a bit cool for those who didn't have fur. The main living area was a large circular affair, in the middle of which sat a semi-circular bench just outside of a depression in the floor that served as a dining and entertainment area, as indicated by the singular news display tablet sitting on the blue containment field floating at bench height. To one side, a window displayed the breathtaking lights of the city. Another cardinal direction over, a large, curved wall upon which an eye-catching demo reel of entertainment features and attractions played. Opposite that, a semicircular arrangement of four spacious beds.

"Oh cool, these ones!" Gren hopped onto one of the beds and crawled over to where the headboard would be, grabbing a latch and pulling down a fabric canopy that covered it entirely, ensuring privacy. Opening it again, she grinned. "I love these!"

"Neat!" Carrie responded. "I call this one for me 'n Nat. The nerd boys can take that second one."

"Okay, sounds good to me," Kei smiled, breathing in the cool atmosphere from his chair as he locked fingers with Erwin.

Max piped up, taking Gren and Ten into playful neck locks. "Me 'n the kids can share a bed! We'll be up all night trading scary stories anyway." He made spooky finger motions. Gropey made a gurgling sound, looking down at him from his head. "... Not too scary."

"Then that leaves the last one for Sam, and Jace!" Natalie nodded.

"Uh." Shelly raised her hand. "What about me?"

"Oh, right," the wolf noted, looking over the beds and their assigned occupants. "As much as I'd love it, Shelly and Carrie's tits would suffocate me in my sleep."

"We'll take Shelly!" Erwin spoke up.

Nat tilted her head. "You sure she won't be in your way?"

Kei smiled from ear to ear. "I am fine with Shelly being in the way."

"Aww, you guuuys!" Shelly made a pouty-lipped smile before hugging Kei from behind- something he visibly appreciated.

"C'mon, guys!" Max beckoned. "Put your stuff down and lemme show you Anchorsway!"

"You guys go ahead," Erwin excused himself. "Kei and I wanna rest after that train ride down here. We'll catch up with you."

"Yeah," Carrie quipped. "Don't hurt yourselves with all that 'resting.'"

 -
- -
 -

Locksmouth's walk paths were all grass and sand, bits of forest that crossfaded into bits of beach. In Anchorsway, however, the streets were cobblestone, fat metal mesh and studded rubber grating everywhere one went. Every square foot looked like it was made to safely step out of the shower onto, and that was very probably the point. Instead of a city clouded in darkness, as being this deep under the ocean would have suggested, some opaque manner of technological contrivance was used to refract and amplify the water from the light above, casting a natural incandescence from the domed ceiling that played on the features of everything below it with the kind of gentle wave patterns one expected from a poolside patio.

A lithe mackerel idly adjusted a machine on the side of the midwalk, which held together an amazing sight: a ten foot tall figure eight made of water, contained only by air. They saw the group coming and began running their hand through the structure, to show it was permeable. "Hey hey!" he called, flicking small colored rings into the inexplicable shape. They tumbled and flowed through the thing, propelled by an incredibly precise current within it. Putting on special gloves, he manipulated the shape of the water circuit, pulling at it without interrupting the flow or breaking the loop. Within moments, he was pulling the watery snake over his neck like a feather boa, looping it around his leg, even showing his hands to them afterward, impressing that they were still dry.

"That's amazing..." Jacent marveled.

"That's just a street performer!" Max pulled up some kind of rating application on his PET, for which the mackerel thanked him. "They're all over Anchorsway. Give 'em a star, it's how they get paid."

"Ah, right!" Jacent came out of his daze to note that his PET was already displaying the necessary menu- easy, as it should have been. "I just meant... I mean, how did he do that??" he asked as they continued on past the performer.

"Like, it's not super surprising. Seafolk invented strong-force containment fields," Shelly supplied, looking over another performer who was dancing to a personal holographic lightshow spurred on by her music. "They're like totally the reason domes are a thing, at all."

"Oh yeah," Aren remembered. "'Cause they lived underwater before, but always had to come up to see land people."

"Yup!" Shelly confirmed, pointing to a series of eight foot diameter tubes filled with water that angled and snaked this way and that, various denizens of Anchorsway riding the currents to their destinations. "Hydrobreathers, domes, the Sealine supply tunnel- if there's a thing that makes it easier to go underwater, they pretty much invented it."

"Which is why they're so friendly!" Natalie added, stopping to admire the work of a squid who used a combination of ink and thin sticks to paint cloudy, milky pictures of crusty sea captains and salt-ravaged ships in a shallow pool of water. "Sharing their culture just comes naturally."

"And so does sharing their flesh," Carrie complained, looking aside at a pair of fish girls walking by, jiggling in their ill-fitting jackets. "Shameless."

Max grinned. "You're just mad 'cause girls down here got boobs like you do." He put his fingers in his cheek dimples. "Cawwie's not as speciaw~" He cackled, dodging a few of her swings.

"Shut up! I don't care," she pouted.

"I wasn't going to say anything," Jacent mentioned, blushing as the same girls noticed they were being watched and teased the group playfully. "But yes. The girls, and, erh, boys of your species are already remarkable, but this city is... wow. Is it a subtype thing?"

"Actually no!" Shelly piped up again.

"Did you have to ask her a Science question?" Carrie groused.

"Like, all extrapolations indicate that your people built fat in like, loose, chunky clusters. But we totally build it in overlapping sheets!"

He blinked. "Is that why you're all so p-... uh, p-perky?" He was crimson now.

"Yeah!" the butterfly confirmed. "This is like, exacerbated underwater due to the Meinen-Dugger effect, but most people totally just call it The Soak. And that's why Anchorsway people are like, thick as fuck!" she said too loudly and enthusiastically.

"Th-... Thank you Shelly, this has been very educational..." he trailed off, trying desperately to disappear inside himself.

"Oh, guys, I forgot!" Max said suddenly. "I'll be right back okay? I got someone I wanna see, in uh, private."

"Oh ho," Sam teased him. "A clandestine rendesvous with a mysterious stranger. Sounds interesting."

Natalie put an arm around Sam's neck playfully and grinned. "We'll meet you at the Salt Bucket for lunch. Have fun."

 -
- -
 -

The blue gem that was Anchorsway twinkled in the basking filtered rays of the sun, the soothing ocean that surrounded it on all sides blanketing everything in a shade that made everywhere feel like a private undersea cove.

"Anh... hanh... ah! Ohhh~... I'm not hurting you, am I?"
"No, no! K-Keep going, hhh, ah..."
"I'm... so glad you can... feel down there... again!"
"Y-Yeah, I can... hah, f-feel you alright, god!"
"Haha! Ah, ooh, mmmn..."

The two boys shuddered on the sheets of the bed closest to the window, panting and feeling each other out amidst the sweat and pungent pheremones. They'd barely made it there, truth be told; their relationship was still so new to them, and the novelty of exploring one another wasn't about to get old anytime soon. Still... "We should probably meet with the others," Kei mentioned. "I don't want them to think we tried to ditch them."

"They won't think that," Erwin assured him. "Why would they think that?"

"Well I did kind of try to kill them," he said plainly. "When the very first impression you give is the worst possible one, you wanna, you know, try not to make it worse."

Erwin chuckled. He saw a lot of himself in Kei in that moment, when he'd first been inducted into the very same pack. And so he repeated the words Natalie said to him: "It's easier to like you when you aren't trying so hard." He scooped his hands, then arms underneath Kei and held him tightly, both of them looking out the window. "Look at all that. There's so much life out there. Don't you think Animis wants you to live it?"

He sighed wistfully. "Yeah. I guess you're right. I wish I could ask her personally, though. She still isn't well enough to talk to me yet."

"She'll get there," the ferret assured him. "She will..." He gently stroked Kei's hair as they lie there, watching people bustle about, walking and talking and swimming and laughing. "Mm. But. You're right. We should probably get going. I'll help you get dressed in a sec."

"Take your time~" Kei replied, watching him get up.

Erwin grinned as he rose, stretching and pulling on a shirt. He plucked a green swimsuit from his bag, carefully replacing his understicker with it; he'd be using it for the day's activities for certain. Looking in the mirror, he teased his hair so that it partially covered one of his eyes. He'd been favoring that look lately; he hadn't paid that much mind when Sam said it looked sexy, but when Kei confirmed it, the old curl-fro was gone. He smirked, regarding his old self. "Bye-bye."

 -
- -
 -

Finding people in Anchorsway could be difficult. The various aquatic tubes that people used for travel meant you could chase someone around town all day even though you technically crossed their path several times- and that was if you knew where they were. Max, however, knew the way to get around, taking alternating footpaths, dive tubes and topways to get where one needed to go quickly. He stepped out of a dive tube, catching his breath and walking briskly down the padded air vents that lined the exits of such devices, which in his case were more for him than his aquaphobic clothes.

With no fur to dry off, he was off down the topway, an inter-building walkway common to all domes. Gropey looked backward longingly, having greatly enjoyed their aquatic excursion. "Don't worry, lil' guy, we'll swim a lot more after!" The cat-eyed blob gave a responsive gurgle.

Down an elevator, through a midwalk, around an alleyway, then back up into a topway. He had to be close. His memories tickled in the back of his mind, his body energized by the thought of seeing him again. It had been so long, and the residential sector felt familiar to him. He finally reached an intercom, pushing the button outside the sliding door.

"... Yes?" came a Northerly tenor.

"It's me! Max!" He nearly bounced with anticipation, Gropey's eye rolling with the motion. The door emitted a soft tone, indicating it was open. "Oh man, I'm so excited! Svenson! It's been forever man!"

He opened the door and walked in to find a svelte-looking shark boy sitting in his living room alone. He was covered in denim, pants and a snug silk shirt underneath a jacket. He shook his shaggy blonde hair with its purple highlights out of his face and frowned. "Max... I... this really isn't a good time."

"It's the best time, dude, it's my birthday!" The iguana thumped onto the loveseat next to him, bouncing him a bit. "I'm in town with all my friends- oh man I have so many friends now, the pack's getting huge dude, it's like we're all in our thirties or something- and we're gonna see a show, and I figured we could go catch some games or something; oh man, I gotta introduce you to everybody!"

Svenson sighed, blowing one of his bangs upward. "You're not going to stop until I come with you, are you?"

"Notta chance!" He beamed.

The shark boy tilted his head toward a noticeably empty coatrack with a concerned expression, then toward the door. "I'm sure they'll call. Alright, lead the way."

 -
- -
 -

"I still can't believe Sealand is closed, the one time we go," sulked Aren as he dipped a piece of flounder into some vinegar-like mixture.

Natalie's laughter was kept well inside their table, the ambiance of the Salt Bucket, proud server of now imitation fish meals, being one of a dull roar. "Are you really that bummed about it? That place is for little kids."

"Nuh-uh!" he answered petulantly. "Squidcat says it's for kids of all ages, and she'd never lie to me."

"Uhuhuhuh!" Carrie mocked the park's mascot's voice. "Keep your bathing suits on, kids, 'cause it's gonna get real wet!"

Aren grinned. "You should see Erwin's drawings of Squidcat! They're special."
Gren glanced aside at him. "Do I wanna know?"
"Nope! But I'm gonna dream about 'em anyway now!"
"Joy."

"Mm, speaking of Erwin," Sam mentioned, "Weren't he and Kei supposed to be here? It shouldn't have taken them that long to 'rest.'"

"Oh, oh!" Shelly pointed. "Here they come!"

Erwin pushed Kei up to the table gently, a telling smile on both of their faces. "Hey guys. Sorry we're late."

"Not that sorry," Carrie grinned.

"Oh!" Jacent remembered. "Erwin, did you get my text message?"

"Oh, yeah. Right." He pulled  a blue thong with his signature comet symbol on it. "Forgot your bathing suit, eh?"

Jacent's eyes widened. "T-These aren't my trunks!"

Carrie grinned. "Those things were dumb lookin'. I packed you somethin' better."

"C-Carrie! You went through my luggage??" He held up the strapless article with dread. "It's barely anything..."

"Good!" the cat brayed obnoxiously. "It's minimalist! Remember, Jacent, you can't reach inner peace if you don't free yourself from the material, or some zen bullshit like that."

He frowned. "That's not how it works!"

"Ah ah ah!" she taunted. "Embrace tranquility!"

He placed his knuckles on top of her head. "I'll make you embrace tranquility!"

Carrie giggled. "Finally you fire back! Come get some!" She grinned and pushed her arm against his in a petty contest of strength.

Sam smiled easily, chin on the backs of her bowed fingers. "Be careful pussy, he knows you're ticklish."

A salty-looking pirahna waittress with sharp teeth and an eyepatch came over to their table. "Oakenfield?" She held up a note. "Someone wanted me to give this to you, but they already left."

The cat stopped rough-housing with Jacent. "Oh. Uh, thanks," she acknowledged, opening it up and reading it. She made a confused face.

"What? What is it??" Gren asked.

Carrie shrugged. "I have no idea." She turned it outward.

[Hope you're enjoying the water. There's more than you think.]

"That's weird," Natalie commented after a long pause. "Don't those kinds of things usually come with a logo so you know what they're advertising?"

Samantha regarded it thoughtfully. Carrie just snorted. "It's probably some fan. Couldn't bear to talk to me face to face." She opened an eye toward Jacent. "Or maybe it was just the smell!"

Jacent re-initiated their contest of strength. "At least I smell like a person and not a walking birthday cake."

Erwin held up his PET. "Speaking of birthdays, Max says he's ready to group up again. We'll have to get those cod dippers to go."

Kei nodded. "That's okay! You can eat them off my lap. I-I mean! I'll keep them on my lap." He turned and wheeled away toward the counter.

Everyone looked at Erwin. He shrugged and grinned.

 -
- -
 -

Anchorsway's lights glimmered brilliantly through the glass of the topways. It was like a multifaceted gem, able to dazzle in different ways if one only looked at it from a different angle. The rubber over the grated floor felt good on Max's bare feet, and the cool salty air was refreshing. "Aw man I don't think I could ever get used to living here. It's like the lost city of Atlantis, bro, so cool..."

"Yeah, well, it's just pretty on the surface," Svenson noted, hands in his jacket pockets. "The real treasure is what it attracts." He unashamedly stared at Max's round, thick butt as it undulated underneath his water-resistant shorts.

"Hah!" Max turned suddenly, catching him in the act. "Gotcha!"

The shark chuckled. "You've grown well, Max."

The iguana did a silly dance, doing some approximation of The Monkey. "Gotcha-gotcha-gotcha-got-"

"... But still haven't grown up." Svenson passed him.

Max blinked and caught up with him. "Hey, why'd we stop dating, anyway? You were so into me."

The other boy rolled his eyes and smirked. "Because you lost my Grandmother's necklace?"

He stiffened. "W-Wait bro, I told you! The Gremulaks of Ipsolon 9 took it! They needed it as a fuel source to repel the conquering Janxo Collective!"

"... And because you never take anything seriously."

Max blinked, watching the shark walk away, into the entertainment plaza.

Bluereef Stadium was a sight to behold. For as many lights and sparkles the city of Anchorsway offered, this bearer of spectacle was bound and determined to be the one that shone the brightest. A spiraling walkway intermixed with capillary dive tubes, filtering excited patrons from near and far. Young and old alike had gathered to take in the show, chattering excitedly with hats and banners and costumes that celebrated their favorite wrestlers. A young dolphin boy excitedly waved around his blue foam rubber fins with the word 'Crushwave' printed on them, while a bear woman held close to her chest a hand-drawn picture of a lion who had dyed himself flaming red and yellow, clearly rooting for Pyromane.

"Do people really get this worked up about wrestling??" \tSamantha queried, sitting atop Jacent's shoulders, chin on his head as she looked down around the crowd- the benefits of being vicariously tall pleased her.

"I'm surprised you don't!" Jacent responded cheerfully. "It's the very height of melodrama. Friendships formed, partners torn, glory, betrayal, politics and intrigue... all expertly choreographed."

"Hum! I've never thought of it as performance art..." she posited thoughtfully, gazing over the crowd. "Oh! Wait, I recognize them! Benson!"

"Huh?" Natalie followed Sam's enthusiastic finger-pointing to the blonde-and-purple haired boy walking casually through the crowd, with Max trailing behind him, trying to catch up. "Whoa, no way!"

He spotted them and blinked. "Natalie Grayswift?"

"Svenson Bluskal!" the wolf grinned. "Hey, it's super loud out here, why don't we all duck in there?" The group of them made their way into the bathroom, filing one by one. The one person in there already had just finished, and left. "So this is who you went to go find, Max? Wow, it's been a while, hasn't it? I haven't seen you in... years."

"Hah, well I've seen you," Svenson replied, smirking. "On the News."

"Haha, ah well, you know." She pivoted. "So! We've had some additions since you last saw us. Say hello to Shelly-"

"I remember Shelly, yes!" he laughed, waving at her.

"Gren, Aren-"
"Hey!"
"Hiya!"

"Haha, they're cute," Svenson smiled.

"And Jacent!"

"Oh yeah, the ancient guy!" The shark boy regarded him with some wonder. "You know there's like four hundred historians who want to talk to you, right?"

He frowned. "A-As soon as I figure out this 'forum' thing I'll answer them, I swear."

He laughed. "It's good to see you again, and with new friends. But." Svenson cocked a brow. "Are you... still the same people I knew?"

"We had the aliens when you knew us, bro!" Max responded. "We just... didn't know yet! Like in Alien- ohhh, er, The Thing- ahhh, no, not like that, um-"

Carrie neck-locked Max suddenly. "What this spastic little gremlin means to say is that we're still the same people you knew."

The shark boy shook his head. "No. That's not true. The dorks that I knew back from Locksmouth couldn't have saved the world." He smiled. "You're definitely different now." He looked at the iguana. "Well except for Max. He's pretty much the same silly boy."

Max opened his mouth as if to say something, but the words never came- an unusual circumstance for him.

Svenson took a breath. "Though, uh. I have to admit, I didn't quite want to come because... I don't know where my parents are today? I mean maybe they both just so happened to work very late without calling me... and turned off their PETs... but, I'm a little worried?"

Samantha muttered, "Oh thank goodness an out- I would be glad to help you locate your parents, Svenson! The rest of you can enjoy the show, just leave it to me."

"You wanna go too, Max?" Natalie asked.

The iguana licked his lips. "Ah... no, no that's cool man. You just... go ahead. I hope you find your parents."

A rumbling was heard from outside. "The show's starting!" Gren said excitedly. "Let's get out there!"

The relative groups split off as they exited the bathroom, but Natalie leaned in to Carrie. "Is it just me or was that the most weirdly reserved I've seen Max probably ever?"

Carrie nodded in agreement, looking at him sidelong. "Yeah. The fact that he wasn't weird was... weird."

 -
- -
 -

Wrestling entertainment had changed.
To be sure, the staples were there: body-building specimens of humanity in little clothing sending each other flying with bombastic aplomb to raucous color commentary. But the costumes were of a much higher pedigree, looking like they were made for a high-budget movie instead of a very violent play. Special effects were set to dazzle, holographic, practical and pyrotechnic displays coming together to sell the action to an excited crowd eager to lose themselves in the fantasy. The last notable exception was the fact that men and women wrestled together. The figures they cut were much more similar than the ones of their evolutionary predecessors, and this lack of sexual dimorphism lent the matchups more dynamism than ever. Case in point, a muscular raccoon woman proudly festooned in stereotypical striped prison garb held a hammerhead shark's arms behind him as she ground her heel into his back, laughing at the jeering audience and the man's agony.

"C'mon already!" Carrie hollered. "Get out of it and give her the Hammer!"

As if responding to her plea, he pulled himself free, powering out of the hold and rolling over to get her in a clutch with his legs. He rolled again and pulled himself up by the ropes, pulling back further and further, forcing the bandit to bend over backwards. She pounded the mat, yelling out in pained displeasure that he'd escaped her ingenious trap.

Max gasped. "Watch out!!"

Hearing the crowd's warnings, the shark spotted the raccoon's tag-team partner, a pig with a clear money theme, attempting to sneak in behind them, turning to kick him in the face and disarm the threat, then putting her back in an even more painful-looking hold. After a few agonizing seconds of surprise and recalcitrance, she tapped out to a loud cheer from the audience.

A handsome clownfish with slick hair grinned from the spectator table. "Ohhhh! Can you believe what we just saw, Jim?!"

A comically undersized bull gestured frantically. "Inconceivable, Mick! The Iron Hammer just took out the entire tag team of Banks and Robber by himself! Has that ever happened before??"

"Well if it has, it's never been done with that kind of style before; look at him soak up the attention!"
"Oh and he deserves it, that injury put him out for two months! He was just begging to wrestle again!"
"Didn't slow the Hammer down one bit!"

Natalie turned to Max, smirking. "Are you having a good birthday, buddy?"

The iguana gave her a big smile, eyes shining. "Yeah."

"Aw, good!" The wolf put a muscular arm around him and ruffled his head frills. "Oh, whoops!" She held out her hand to see a disheveled blob with a rolling eye in it. "Sorry Gropey!"

The announcers heard a musical cue. "... And speaking of not slowing down, it's time!"
The lights dimmed. "Ohhhh here it comes, folks, the main attraction!"
"You've been waiting two months for this!"
"You've seen them win the tag team belt from the Tiger Twins!"
"You've seen them divided by a bitter rivalry over their mutual love of Towel Boy Tammy!"
"And now, see them fight each other in a no-holds-barred Iron Man match to end them all!"

An orca climbed into the ring, holding the two headlining competitors, unconscious, by their leotards, and dropped them onto the mat to a confused silence. She then produced a microphone. "... Sorry. Crushwave and Pyromane won't be wrestling tonight."

Max's eyes went wide as the crowd let out a roar of disapproval. "Uh dude, is it just me or do they look like-"

"Khurl..." Carrie cocked a brow.

"But don't worry!" Khurl assuaged the audience. "You can still get crushed by waves." She pointed straight up. "I've stolen this dome's field dispersement codes. They've been localized to a timed dead-man switch that only I know the location of. I also have a compatriot who has a switch of their own. If anyone tries to leave Anchorsway, I'll shut off the dome. If anyone tries to interfere, I'll shut off the dome. And finally, if your heroes can't manage to beat me, I'll shut off the dome, drowning and crushing everyone in this polished sham of a city." She motioned to the crowd as the murmurs began to become very confused and agitated. "Arus? Koralo? I know you're out there. Come on up."

Sam came onto Jacent's holographic PET display, distressed and clearly in some corner of a facility. "Natalie she's right! Benson-"
"Svenson!"
"-His parents work at the dome generator, and all the engineers have been rendered unconscious!"

Natalie blinked. "... Guys I don't know what's happening, but for now? Go with it. I'm gonna figure something out, okay?" She took Gropey from Max. "Just... keep everyone from panicking."

Carrie immediately began stalking forward. Max followed suit, and made a slight detour to the announcers, who were in disarray, whispering to each other.

"Isn't she a criminal?? I think this is real!"
"Somebody call the cops, we need to-"

Max put his hand over the microphone and hissed, "Guys, it's a work!"

They both looked confused, glanced at each other and threw up their hands, getting back into character. "Ladies and gentlemen I wouldn't leave, I think she's serious!"
"For your safety and everyone else's, we can only advise you to stay on the edge of your seats!"

Satisfied, Max ran his way up to the ring, inking over as he did. The orca seemed enormous, even bigger than the last time somehow. "Uh, hey Khurl. You know, if you wanted a rematch, all you had to do was call!"

"Shut up," she said with all the inflection of a venom-tipped knife. She ripped off the robe she'd come in, revealing herself to be wearing only a very small bikini. It was the body underneath it that shocked them both. She was a walking mass of sinew, muscles on her muscles bulging out from places that looked almost dislocated. Scars looked like they were from pure muscle mass bursting open from her flesh; the display was so gratuitous as to make them both uneasy.

"Aw, gross!" Max winced.

"Dude, what the fuck," Carrie burst. "It's a gym, not your house."

"My body is gorgeous," Khurl said with great anger. "None of you fakes can understand that!" She swung at Carrie, which the cat actually ducked- then swung a second time and connected with such force that it knocked her on her back.

"Gah! Fake??" Carrie awkwardly got to her feet, clearly more surprised than hurt. "We're in Anchorsway, how can you think mine is fake??"

Max climbed onto Khurl's back, attempting to put her in a sleeper hold, but the orca reached behind her and flung him into Carrie, whose arms- and breasts- cushioned the impact. "Not your body, stupid, your personality! Just like everyone else in this city!"

For her part, Carrie smoothly transitioned him to his feet again, as they'd practiced many times. She signaled to Max, grabbing arms with him, running forward in tandem and jumping into a flying double clothesline. Khurl put her hands up, but the momentum carried her down to the mat. The two of them couldn't help but roll to their feet and bask momentarily in the crowd's reaction.

Khurl grabbed their feet out from under them, making the duo faceplant as she rose behind them. "Let's see how these fake people with their fake smiles like it when their fake violence has real consequences!" With impossible strength, she turned with enough force to swing both of them by their feet, spinning three full revolutions before flinging the two of them away. "HRGH!"

Carrie flipped over the ropes and fell on the ground with a heavy thud, but Max managed to grab them on his way past, flipping once, perching on the top rope, then turning around and pointing dramatically. "Saving throw!" Khurl's face soured, and he remembered Svenson's words. "Uh, ah, y-you won't get away with this!"

"You won't get away with this...?" Carrie climbed up, sliding back into the ring. "Surprise bitch!" She leapt onto Khurl, arms around her neck and became momentarily superdense, slamming her back down on the mat. "C'mon man!"

"We're gonna... uh... knock you out!" Max declared, running up for a leg drop. Khurl caught his leg and swung him into Carrie, bowling them both over. She kicked them out of the ring under the bottom rope, landing in a heap by the ring side. "Ohhhhhh wow that sucked..."

 -
- -
 -

Earlier that day, Anchorsway had seemed a glimmering wonderland of underwater fantasy.

Now it was looking more and more like a capricious death trap.

"Okay. They're obviously going to be monitoring the trains." Natalie shifted her weight from one leg to the other, deep in thought. "Erwin, Kei, Shelly, try and see if you can take away their remote access. Sam, Gren, Aren? Canvas the area, see how many mirrors there are in this place and start aligning them with ones around Locksmouth; we're gonna take advantage of the distraction Max and Carrie are providing and start quietly evacuating people."

"Everyone in the city??" Gren asked. "That's like a bajillion people!"
"We'll never get everyone in time!" Aren worried.

"Jacent, you and I are the emergency backup. If the first evacuation attempt doesn't get everyone, it's up to us to try to stop the collapse. Let's hope it doesn't come to that."

"I will start taking stock of the structure of this place. There is a small possibility we could ride the bubble up, but power required and the timing would be..." He frowned. "Indeed. Let's hope."

"Alright!" Natalie clapped once. "We've all got our jobs, let's go, go, go!"

 -
- -
 -

"Ohhh this doesn't look good Mick!"
"Jim, this challenger is wiping the floor with the heroes from Locksmouth, things are looking very bad for the home team!"
"Are they gonna get counted out??"
"I don't think so, no ref is gonna hold them to the rules when survival's on the line!"

Carrie winced as she raised a bit, rubbing her sore head. "Max what is goin' on with you? I need distractions, where's all your random shit??"

Max licked his lips, looking up at the orca slowly lumbering into view. "I... I can't! This is serious!"

The cat stared at him, confused. "Max." She took him by the shoulders, her blue eyes shining in the bright stage lights, and said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world: "Just because you're joking doesn't mean you're not serious."

The iguana blinked several times, gazing down at the floor, then up at the crowd as the cat stood. "... You get me." He pushed himself up. "... Yeah." He grabbed the ropes. "Yeah!" He launched himself up onto the top rope, perched on it. "YEAH- oh, oh crap!"

Khurl had inked over while they were recovering, and in that time she'd burst a pipe open, manipulating the water in it into a huge fist shape that nearly decked Max's entire body. Instead it just slammed into Carrie, who slid back into the ropes after barely clearing them in the first place.

"Foolish fool! You think the smell of wet cat can stop us?!" Max made a taunting gesture at the orca. "Woopwoopwoop!" He bounced out of the way of a huge watery right hook that pressure-washed years of sweat stains off the mat in moments.

"Gotcha!" Carrie grunted, pulling Khurl into a German Suplex and slamming her into the mat with full force- something that would have seriously injured most people, but only stunned the ripped girl. Max followed up with a body splash, landing on her recovering form, then rolling away.

Khurl held her head as she got up, popping her neck obscenely loudly. She raised her giant water-arms and pounded the mat fiercely. Carrie fell on her butt, but Max had seen the tactic coming, jumped to avoid it, and run over to intentionally fall, twisting and launching Carrie right back upward with speed. The cat charged her, grabbed her in a bear hug and squeezed, lifting Khurl's immense form off the ground. "Aaaaaaaargggghhh!" The orca growled, raining down a torrent of water. Some of this got into Carrie's mouth, and she released her in surprise, coughing and gagging on it.

"Hey, hey! Shiatsu! Half off!" Max sent a flurry of sidelong chops into Khurl's midsection. The actual damage they managed was completely negligible, and her grin was growing sadistic. What did hurt, however, was the full on dropkick that Carrie sent into her side, flooring her once more.

"Yesssss!" Carrie hissed, high-fiving Max on the way back up. It was the best he'd felt all day, riding the high of working with someone who understood and could work with his madness.

"You think you're so strong!" Khurl grabbed Max bodily and threw him into the crowd. "Well it's not good enough for them!" she yelled bitterly. "Nothing made me happier than when they stripped you of your weightlifting titles!"

"What're you- hngh- talkin' about??" Carrie grappled with the larger girl, her strength undoubtedly greater, but the other's size bearing down on her.

"They used to be my titles!" she raged. "Then they found out I had an 'unfair advantage!' But it wasn't unfair! I didn't choose to be born a Reefstone!"

"Oh my god, Mick! What a development!"
"Reefstone?? Like Sarah Reefstone, the super-soldier from before the Disarming??"
"I thought they couldn't breed!"

"Nnnngggfh... w-wait!" Carrie trembled as she tried to out-grapple the infuriated older girl. "They took your titles because-

"BECAUSE I'M A FREAK!" she screamed, losing all cohesion and whip-cracking Carrie by the arms like a rumpled rug. "My body's not fair to the fucking weaklings!" She grabbed the cat by her tail and swung her around, smacking her into the turnbuckles. "I'm too scary to let compete with everyone else! I'm too freakish!" It was all Carrie could do to brace against the impacts, preventing serious harm to her head. Cat felt herself land. "And now everybody knows the truth: so are you!" Khurl lifted her up, back to the turnbuckle, jabbing a finger into her breast over and over. "SO. ARE. YOU!"

 -
- -
 -

"Look, I told you, you have to leave!" Gren yelled in her inkling form, exasperated.

"But what about the fryer?" A deadpan pirahna waittress asked.

"Forget about the stupid fryer! I'll turn it off, just! Just get!" the goat yelled.

"Yeesh, alright, alright."

Natalie came up on a hologram. "How are you guys doing??"

Aren winced. "The mirrors are all ready, but getting people to listen and come with us is harder than I thought..."

[.:]

"Ugh, like. You're not alone, lil' buddy," Shelly griped from inside the Dome Generator Room. "I've got Erwin brute-forcing this override by hand and I don't think it'll work."

Kei nodded. "We're gonna need that remote unit if we wanna do this in such an insane timeframe..."

[.:]

"Yeah, speaking of timeframes," Kelvalde butted in, surrounded by familiar beach. "Do you think we could stagger the waves of refugees a little? Locksmouth is about to have some very full public restrooms; worse than that time my dad made Jambalaya."

[.:]

"Oh, don't mention Jambalaya..." Jacent winced.

"C'mon, Jacent, you're gonna need all the energy you can generate!" Natalie urged him.

"Not to put a damper on things, but I don't think this is possible. Not only is the idea of boosting a city full of people up with an air bubble far beyond anything I've ever done..." He made a face as he shoved another donut in his mouth, forcing himself to chew. "My digestive system slowed down when I stopped using my powers extensively." He took a long-suffering breath. "Oh I don't miss eating like this at all..."

Nat frowned. "Crap. This plan is falling apart. Nnnh." She watched the holographic coverage of the wrestling match anxiously. "C'mon, guys, hold on a while longer..."

 -
- -
 -

Khurl felt the second dropkick of the day as Max slingshot himself into her. This freed Carrie and enraged her even further.

"It doesn't matter what you're made of!" the iguana insisted. "My parents are clan-breeders! I was sick for like a whole year 'cause they have weird, backward beliefs and stuff! But you don't see me tryna crush a city!"

"I don't care what you think." Khurl grabbed him by the neck, lifted him up and sent an incredibly powerful right hook directly into his face, which sent him end over end and face-down into the mat. She then turned to Carrie, summoned her watery arms and siezed her completely between the immense liquid palms. "If I'm going to be feared, then I'll be truly feared." The cat tried to escape, clawing for any kind of hold, but the structure of her entrapment kept her stuck.

Out of dazed eyes, Max saw Carrie in a position he never thought possible for her: helpless. She'd never been the best swimmer, and had never had to dodge a blow, so her current crisis was one from which she had no power to escape. He tried to get up, stumbling completely and landing back on the mat, his head spinning. She'd hit him hard. The pain was just a little bit more than he was used to or ready to deal with, and it made the whole world feel like it was tilting. "Angh..." He heard something. Out of his distorted hearing, he managed to make out a sound like the ocean. But that was dumb, he was under the ocean. Wait, no. Was it... the crowd?

They were chanting. For who? For him?? Sure enough, they were looking right at him, yelling at him to get up. But he couldn't, could he? Or... maybe he could. Maybe the only person who thought he couldn't do it was him! How weird would that be? He took a deep breath, and thumped his palms onto the mat. His arms lifted him on his own power. The chanting crowd began cheering for him. His heart swelled; it was a silly feeling, but he owned it completely. It felt great.

Right, Carrie! She was running out of air- and that girl had a bevy of breathing problems already! It was time. An idea came to him, to them. Koralo's mind worked as one with his own. He turned away from Khurl, darting his yellow tongue out onto the middle of the top rope. The slingshot effect sent him over it and toward the crowd, but he turned his head as he cleared it, twisting back to grab it once more. His tongue stretched, the rope stretched, for a brief moment his butt touched a teenage girl's star-struck face and she squealed just before he shot back at Khurl like a bullet, inverting in the air and slamming into her spine, feet-first with an incredibly loud, echoing ~SMACK!~

"Ho-ly moly Jim, did you see that?!"
"I heard it! The whole arena did!"
"Un-be-LIEVABLE!!"

In truth, wrestling was an inefficient way to fight. Many moves hurt the attacker just as much as the attacked. And even though his knees ached, and the side of his face was flush with the mat, Max could tell from the agony Khurl was in that he'd given much, much better than he'd got. He gazed Carrie's direction to see her mountainous breasts rising and falling steadily. Good. Still breathing. "You rest, Gato Blanco, I've got a fight to finish." He pushed, tilted and spun to a crouch, then rose to his feet, taking a deep breath. "You got two choices, señorita!" He pointed toward her dramatically. "You can stay down... or you can face the wrath of Gordo el Gecko."

Khurl rose with difficulty, the pain spurring her on. "I'm gonna kill you this time."

"Bzzt! Wrong answer! Hooohoo!" The crushing hands of water came for him, but he launched himself forward and out of their grip. On the way forward, he wrapped his legs around her neck, swung around acrobatically a few times and pulled her down with him, slamming her onto her already injured back.

"ANGH!" Khurl barked, seething as she endured even more pain to get up again. "You'll never see your family again!" She attempted to clothesline him with her watery arms.

"My real family is a herd of wild yaks!" He ducked the first, jumping over the second. "I'm alternate reality Buffalo Bill!"

"What are you talking about you idiot?!" She angrily began slamming her hands down at him in an aggressive game of whack-a-Max.

He ducked, juked and jived around her angry attempts. "You're right! I'm more like a piñata!"

"Hanh... hanh..." Her exhausted grin grew sadistic. "I can bash you and your insides will fall out??"

He baited her into a double-fisted hammerblow that nearly buckled the entire wrestling ring, when Max not only ran away from it, but used the rope's momentum to send himself into the tunnel of water, spinning and spiraling and using his body's excellent swimming technique to rocket himself through like a torpedo, surfacing right in front of her and headbutting the churlish orca directly in the face. The water-arms evaporated, her face went tranquil, and she fell like a slain giant for the final time.

"No. You swing at me, but always end up getting hit in the face."

The crowd surged. The announcers went wild. Carrie coughed up water as she slowly stood with him, for once perfectly satisfied to let someone else have the limelight.

 -
- -
 -

The evacuation had been handled somewhat well, but people were happy to get back to their lives. Hush puppies at the Salt Bucket tasted even better with the sweet seasoning of victory fresh in everyone's minds.

"Bitch sprained my tail..." complained Carrie, getting a promise from Natalie to rub some tiger balm on it later.

"So how did you guys stop the switch?" asked Max as he bit into his fish fillet in such a way as to make it into a dinosaur head with big cartoony fish teeth. "I thought they had some double-blind bag thing or something on it!"

"Well wouldn't you know it?" Sam chuckled. "As I was helping evacuate people, I noticed there was this one odd elderly rabbit woman who kept one hand in her coat and never actually left with any of the groups. No sooner did you put the smack down on Khurl than this old girl whipped out a remote and tried to bury us all at sea. It was Sarissa of course; she wasn't expecting me to Judo kick it out of her hands!"

Jacent snickered, his side of the table notably empty. "I doubt very much it was a Judo kick. But very well done nonetheless." He gave her a kiss on the cheek. "After that, Natalie ran it to the computers team and they cracked the code, putting the controls back in the safety of the city technicians."

"Very impressive," Svenson smiled. "And I appreciate you finding my parents for me."

Max grinned and reclined. "Still think I'm a silly boychild?"

He thought about it. "... Well, yes."

"W-... What??" The iguana blinked. "But I saved the day and everything!"

Svenson blinked a few times. "Max, it... wasn't a moral judgement. I broke up with you because I realized that if we kept dating, I would try to change you... and that's wrong. Nobody who claims to love you can put a condition on that to go away. Being silly is who you are, and one day you'll find someone who loves you for it." He shrugged and smiled amicably. "That just wasn't me."

"... Ohhhhhhhh..." Max realized. "Aheheh. Well now I do feel silly."

The shark chuckled. "Now, if you want to come to my place for some special birthday spankings..."

Max grinned and blushed, looking to his plate. "Ah... maybe later, man." He held up a sprig of broccoli and fed it to Gropey. "I think I've had enough poundings for one day."

 -
- -
 -

Sarissa and Khurl sat in silence in their shared jail cell. There was nothing to say. Many hours of planning, many days of reconnoissance to map things out, and just like that, everything went up in smoke. There was plenty of blame, but there was no point slinging it. The truth was, it didn't matter. Natalie's group was out there, and they were in here, end of story.

They both blinked slowly, almost in a stupor, as the cell door opened completely by itself. "Try to be quiet, and hold your hands out."

It took them a few tepid moments, but they did. And to all the world, they vanished. All but one boy: Coul Sael. He regarded them with his usual blazé disregard. "Cedge says you've got potential. But wrecking cities is the wrong way to go. You wanna hear what he has to say, or should I leave you here?"

Sarissa's frown slowly, ever so slowly turned upward. "I'm all ears."", "pools_count": 1, "title": "Issue 15 - Under the Sea", "deleted": "f", "public": "t", "mimetype": "text/rtf", "pagecount": "1", "rating_id": "1", "rating_name": "Mature", "ratings": [ { "content_tag_id": "2", "name": "Nudity", "description": "Nonsexual nudity exposing breasts or genitals (must not show arousal)", "rating_id": "1" }, { "content_tag_id": "3", "name": "Violence", "description": "Mild violence", "rating_id": "1" } ], "submission_type_id": "12", "type_name": "Writing - Document", "guest_block": "t", "friends_only": "f", "comments_count": "7", "views": "794" }