Trouble In Paradise

Job Details:

Sign-Up: page 17, Post Number 416

-On a boat approaching Crescent Island-

It had been a week since the encounter with Alexander Kerwes on Divide Island and Victoria was looking forward to a rematch with the smug scientist. She wanted to get back at him for calling her trash and knocking her around like a rag doll. However, her revenge would have to wait because Franklin Kerwes had contacted her about another job. This one would take place on Crescent Island, a location the brunette had visited a few times previously.

She had received word from Franklin Kerwes that a few nights ago a mysterious black helicopter carrying canisters on cables had flown next to a beachside cave and flew off moments later without the canisters. Hotel management had called for help to investigate the problem before anyone got hurt and tourism suffered. Franklin Kerwes answered and had called upon Victoria to investigate. The brunette accepted and was now on a high-speed boat headed for the resort island.

She wore a blue t-shirt under Azure Armor, the Crown of Persephone on her head, and a black skirt with white tennis shoes. On her back was a backpack containing water, a flashlight, and her Bandolier. She would need them all for where she was going. The boat eventually rumbled to a stop at a pier and let Victoria off.

"Good luck kid." The boat captain wished her before he went into reverse and sped off for home many thousands of Jewels richer. Victoria would have to work harder for her payday, but it would be worth it to save Crescent Island from being destroyed by some of Alexander Kerwes' latest experiments. She had become personally invested in stopping the wayward Kerwes because he had dismissed her as trash. The mage would prove how wrong he was, but first she needed to meet up with hotel management and learn about where she was going to be exploring today.

Victoria walked up the paved bath and entered the hotel lobby, where Martha the redhead was waiting for her, along with someone else. That someone else was a female mage with waist-length blonde hair wearing a white t-shirt and blue jean skirt with brown boots and a familiar curved sword at their left hip. The mage was none other than Abigail Windstrider.

Abigail must have been busy since they last met because the blonde was now one level below Victoria in terms of magical power. After wandering through the dark tunnels of Divide Island and facing off against the reptiles by herself, it would be a welcome change to have a partner for this job. Victoria did not feel much joy at the reunion because the clock was ticking. She did not know what was in the containers the mysterious black helicopter had dropped off, but they had to hurry in case the cargo was more of Kerwes' experiments. The damp, cool cave would be an idea place for the reptiles to reproduce and make a new generation of threats to the island.

"Looks like everyone's here. We'll get going then." The redheaded hotel manager said before guiding the two mages into her office.

-In the office-

In the office was a nondescript desk with personal photos and papers scattered all over the desktop plus a few framed pictures of the island on the wall, but of greater interest was an old-fashioned corkboard with a color map of the island tacked to it. Circled in red marker was a place on the northern coast, presumably the cave where the containers had been dropped off.

"OK, here's the deal. Almost three nights ago our night watchmen reported seeing a black helicopter with cylindrical containers suspended underneath it fly over the resort and towards the northern coast. Nothing's happened yet, but that's what we're afraid of. We need you two to investigate the area and determine if it's an elaborate prank of if there's a real threat. If there's a threat, we want it taken care of." Martha gave Abigail and Victoria a rundown of the situation to date.

"You'll be going to a coastal cave named Mermaid Cove. It hasn't been officially explored, so we don't know what's down there. You'll have to be careful." Martha added further. Victoria was not happy to hear that she would be going into yet another dark place. She was hoping that she could explore somewhere during the daytime.

"Sounds simple enough." Abigail said optimistically. Victoria did not share the blonde mage's optimism because her fight against the reptiles and her "fight" with Alexander Kerwes had shown her exactly what she was going up against. The blonde was a capable mage, but she had not gone up against Kerwes' humanoid mutants or his reptilian creations. They were a far cry from the bandits that Abigail was used to beating up.

"What do we do if we encounter anything in the cave?" Victoria asked Martha. The redhead closed her eyes for a moment.

"If you encounter anything that might be a threat to the island, kill it. But you two had better be careful. The cave's hard to get out of in the best of times. If the tide comes in, you might not make it out because the cave floods." Martha warned them of the dangers of exploring Mermaid Cove. Victoria did not like the possibility of having to swim out of the cave because she was a passable swimmer at the best of times and she would be weighed down with a backpack, armor, and a bandolier. Those were not the best things to wear when going for a swim because the armor and backpack would take on water in a frighteningly short period of time once they were submerged. However, Victoria would need all of her gear to stand a chance... or would she?

"You might wanna leave some of your gear here, Victoria. I don't think you want to go swimming with armor on and a backpack." Abigail suggested to the brunette. As much as she hated to leave behind any of her gear, on this occasion Victoria was inclined to agree. She would leave behind her armor and backpack but wear the Bandolier. The Bandolier would give her a fighting chance against any of Kerwes' monstrosities if they had taken residence in the cove. Her healing magic should be strong enough where she did not need the Crown of Persephone if they got hurt.

Victoria began to reluctantly remove her armor, backpack, and Crown of Persephone. She set them on a wooden table behind Martha's desk and slowly walked away from them. It pained her to leave them behind, but she needed to travel light for this job.

[Word Count: 1,140]
[Total Word Count: 1,140/12,500]

-Martha's office-

"Don't worry, kid. Your items will be safe with me." Martha assured Victoria as the latter looked longingly at her gear. She then realized that she had left her bandolier behind and quickly trotted over to the bag. She opened it and fished out the clinking ammo belt, then wrapped it around herself. She then closed her backpack and felt a little bit better because now she had something that could help her fight anything residing in Mermaid Cove.

"Wow, you've certainly upgraded your gear since we last met." Abigail said to Victoria. The brunette was amused at the remark... she thought that Abigail had seen the Bandolier at their last meeting, but she could be mistaken. It had been awhile since they had last went on a job together. Martha interrupted the brunette's amusement with a reminder of what the mages had been hired to do.

"It's gonna be a long walk to the cove, so you two had better get going. You don't want to be trapped in the cove at night." Martha suggested to them.

"OK then, we'll get going." Abigail said to Martha before walking towards the office door and opening it, then striding into the hotel lobby. Victoria wordlessly followed her job partner and sort-of friend into the lobby. They had a job to do and not very much time to do it in.

"Good luck!" Martha called after them. Victoria waved goodbye. Martha waved back and shut the office door, presumably to think of ways to keep the hotel guests from panicking or getting angry and demanding their money back. Victoria and Abigail would have to resolve this situation quickly.

-On the beach-

Victoria and Abigail walked onto the beach and noticed how devoid of life it was. There were only a few beachgoers who were determined not to let the latest crisis ruin their vacation plans floating on inflatable rings in the water or sunbathing in beach chairs placed on the sand. The mages walked by a quartet of teenagers playing volleyball and headed for the lighthouse further away on the beach.

"Hey Vic, have you ever seen a beach this empty?" Abigail asked her partner once they were out of earshot of the resort guests.

"Yeah, twice before. I've been here twice before and both times the beach was empty. The first time I was hired to get rid of some wild animals that had taken over the beach. The second time more of them took over the beach AND a giant shark was lurking off the coast." Victoria recounted two of her previous jobs on Crescent Island as the pair reached the lighthouse. Abigail looked surprised to hear about the giant shark.

"How did you get rid of the giant shark?" Abigail asked, sand crunching beneath her boots.

"I stood on the shore and let it close in, then I fired a Rocket Launcher round down its throat and watched the fireworks. It was kinda messy." Victoria answered truthfully. The blonde mage stopped in place and put her hands on her hips in mild disbelief. She looked like she wanted to call Victoria out on a bogus story, but her facial expression showed that she believed every word the brunette said.

"Somehow I can see that happening exactly as you told me. You're not big on subtlety." Abigail commented. Victoria grinned. Abigail's remark hit the nail on the head... the Sabertooth mage was anything but subtle when it came to combat.

"You don't hear about a giant shark swimming offshore from here, do you?" Victoria asked rhetorically. Abigail visibly deflated. Try as she might, she could not deny that an approach like Victoria's solved the problem in spectacular fashion.

"No." She admitted.

"The shark's gone and so are the crocodiles. I'm not subtle, but I get the job done." Victoria bragged just a little bit to Abigail. The blonde stared at Victoria, green eyes wide with disbelief.

"Wait, there were crocodiles on the beach too?" Abigail asked.

"Yeah. Things were weird. I thought the shark would have eaten the crocodiles long before they got onto the beach, but apparently not." Victoria answered in all seriousness. She had not thought about the job ever since completing it, but Abigail's question had compelled Victoria to do something she did not often do... think. She had no idea where the crocodiles came from. She did not see a natural lake on the resort grounds, so unless someone was dumb enough to fill an artificial lake with dangerous reptiles they must have come from somewhere else, but where?

"Me too. Sharks eat almost anything that moves." Abigail said to her partner.

"That giant shark certainly tried to eat me. Unfortunately for it, I had a Rocket Launcher." Victoria replied. Abigail sighed in defeat and made a statement to the brunette.

"C'mon, Vic. Let's keep going. That cave isn't gonna explore itself." Abigail urged her partner to stop standing around and keep walking towards their goal. Victoria readily agreed.

"OK, let's keep going then." Victoria replied. Abigail faced forward and started walking again with the Sabertooth mage at her right side. After a short and brisk walk they rounded the tip of the island and followed a wooden sign pointing towards Mermaid Cove, where the helicopter had deposited the canisters at night. The bright midday sun was beating down on the pair.

While she appreciated not being burdened with the armor and the backpack, Victoria started to regret leaving her backpack behind because it had her entire water supply inside. They were far away from the restaurants and the vending machines that could supply them with water, but then she remembered something very important. Her Combat Medic magic let her purify any water as long as it was in a container!

"Do you have any water with you?" Victoria asked Abigail.

"No, not at all. I travel light. All I've got with me is my clothes, my money, and my sword." Abigail replied in the negative. Victoria figured as much, but there was still hope. If she could find some kind of container to put the ocean water in, she had an unlimited supply of water all around her. The hard part would be selling her partner on drinking it, but Victoria herself would be fine with drinking ocean water purified by her magic. She had eaten out of dumpsters in the bad old days of Capital Crocus, so eating and drinking things of questionable safety was nothing new to her.

Victoria looked along the beach for something like a soda bottle or soda can. There were no handy recycling bins to raid for a container, so she would have to keep her eyes peeled. There was still plenty of beach left, so there were plenty of chances to find a container to use for holding some purified water.

[Word Count: 1,166]
[Total Word Count: 2,306/12,500]

-In front of Mermaid Cove-

After a lot of walking and quite a bit of time in the sun, the two mages had finally reached the area where the helicopter had deposited its unknown cargo under cover of darkness. Victoria and Abigail immediately began looking for the canisters that had been left behind by the helicopter. They walked through the sand and looked around the mouth of the cave to try and find the canisters... it did not take long to spot what they were after. Bobbing in the surf were five canisters that looked like oversized torpedoes that were open all along their tops. Victoria and Abigail approached them with caution in case they were still occupied by whatever it was they had delievered to Crescent Island.

"Looks like the inside's coated with... with slime." Abigail said aloud, approaching the first container with caution. Victoria brought out her Light Machine Gun to cover the blonde mage as she approached the open canister. Abigail cautiously peered inside and found nothing except slime which liberally coated the interior of the canister. The blonde dipped her fingers inside and collected a small sample on her fingertips.

"What happened? Did the helicopter drop containers of giant reptiles here?" Abigail asked quizzically. Victoria had a feeling that her partner's query was not far from the truth. It would not surprise her if Kerwes had airdropped another one of his experiments just to distract the brunette and give him time to flee to his next hidden base.

"I wouldn't be surprised." Victoria dryly commented, lowering her weapon so she did not scare Abigail. Abigail rubbed the slime between her thumb and right forefinger, then dipped her entire hand in the salt water to remove the substance. The blonde then shook her hand dry.

"You seem to know more about what's going on than I do. Tell me what we might be facing." Abigail told Victoria with sincerity.

"OK. We're gonna be facing mutant reptiles." Victoria answered. Abigail put her hands on her hips and glared at the brunette.

"Are you serious?" Abigail sternly asked Victoria while maintaining a "I don't believe you" posture. The Sabertooth mage remained unmoved and repeated her answer.

"We're gonna be facing mutant reptiles." Victoria repeated herself in a serious tone of voice. Abigail sighed in resignation.

"OK, who created these mutant reptiles?" Abigail asked. Victoria hesitated to answer for a moment, then decided to reply. Abigail deserved to know what they were going up against.

"A scientist named Alexander Kerwes. He's done a lot of human experimentation to perfect a chemical cocktail named Agent Lacedaemon, or A-LAC for short. I've fought the results of his experiments on Shadow Island, Divide Island, and now Crescent Island. I've also fought the scientist himself on Divide Island, but it wasn't much of a fight." Victoria told Abigail an abridged version of the story to date.

"What's Agent Lacedaemon? A super soldier drug?" Abigail asked.

"You hit the nail on the head." Victoria answered while glancing towards the cave.

"Great." Abigail said sarcastically.

"Yeah, but someone's gotta stop him. Otherwise he's gonna continue to experiment on humans until he gets the formula right. I don't wanna wait around and find out how many more lives it takes for Agent Lacedaemon to be perfected." Victoria commented in all seriousness. She had been fighting the results of his experiments across three islands. She hoped that today would be one of the last times she had to deal with the experiments. To put a permanent end to them she would have to find Kerwes and deal with him, but he was not making it easy. She had no idea where he could be and Franklin Kerwes was casting a net far and wide to find his wayward son.

"OK then. The cave isn't gonna explore itself and we don't have very much sunlight left. I don't wanna be trapped in this cave at night." Abigail said to Victoria. She began to approach the cave and walked carefully through the surf lapping at the mouth of the cavern.

"We might not have much choice but to explore it at night, Abigail. We can't rush this. We've gotta find and kill every last one of them. Otherwise they'll just reproduce and we'll be back here doing the same job we're doing now." Victoria warned Abigail before dispelling her weapon. She did not need to slip in the surf and accidentally shoot her partner.

"They can reproduce?" The blonde asked in a tone of concern, climbing over a small rock shelf at the entrance.

"Yeah. They can lay eggs, so we need to wipe out every last reptile and every last egg we come across." Victoria answered while climbing over the same rock shelf that Abigail had just cleared. Ahead of them lay a cave that seemed to go deep into the earth. Behind them was the sea threatening to pour in and make life difficult for the pair. It was time to get going and wipe out the reptilian threat before it was too late. Victoria brought out her Light Machine Gun again and led the way into the cave.

-Inside the cave-

Victoria led the way and Abigail brought up the rear. The roof of the cave was riddled with dime-sized holes that provided just enough light to see by, but it was nowhere near enough to see everything in the cave. That was why the two mages would have to be careful and watch their surroundings. Victoria was not sure what variety of reptile they would be facing here, but she suspected that it had adaptations to make it suitable for moving and fighting in aquatic environments.

"We're on their home turf now, so we need to be careful. If you see anything strange like egg clusters, let me know." Victoria told Abigail as the brown-haired mage slowly moved forward. The cave was cool and damp, which made it a perfect breeding ground for reptiles. It also made staying focused a bit of a challenge because the cold was gnawing at both mages as they moved deeper and deeper into the cave.

"OK." Abigail replied laconically. She was on the lookout for anything out of the ordinary like egg clusters or the reptiles themselves. So far they had seen nothing out of the ordinary. The reptiles had to be lurking deeper in the cave, where the environment would be even more to their liking than it was near the surface. Going deeper would also be dangerous for two reasons.

First, being inside a cave of hostile reptiles at high tide would not help their life expectancy at all because they would have to choose between fighting for their lives or trying to swim faster than creatures that could live underwater. Second, the presence of eggs would mean that the reptiles would react aggressively to intruders and would not run from a fight. Victoria did not like facing the creatures on their home turf, but eliminating the reptiles before they could become entrenched on the island would benefit everyone in the long run. She had to get rid of them now or she would have to return to fight them later when their numbers were higher from the next generation hatching.

[Word Count: 1,240]
[Total Word Count: 3,546/12,500]

Victoria looked around the dark cave while Abigail brought up the rear. So far they had seen nothing out of the ordinary, but they still had a lot of cave to cover... or so they thought. Martha had told them that the cave was unexplored and unmapped, so no one really knew how far or how deep it went. The two mages were given the honor of being the first people to "officially" explore Mermaid Cove.

"Man, it's cold and dark. I don't like it." Abigail commented.

"Me neither, Abigail. It's a perfect breeding ground for reptiles." Victoria commented in return. The two kept walking through the cave when Victoria paused in place when she saw multiple glints of light up ahead. She stopped and motioned for Abigail to stop.

"What is it?" Abigail asked.

"I thought I saw something. Something like multiple gleaming lights, like someone dropped some Jewels in here." Victoria told the blonde of what she had seen just up ahead. She did not like this at all. She aimed her weapon straight ahead and watched as the lights reappeared before her, but they were closer this time. There was no way that the lights belonged to fireflies.

Victoria aimed at the lights and was about to risk firing when something darted out and latched onto the barrel of the Light Machine Gun and pulled back hard, snatching it out of the startled mage's grasp. Victoria heard Abigail pull out her Sky Blade as the brunette put her hands together and prepared to fire a Beam Cannon. Victoria aimed towards the lights and fired, eliciting a loud CROAK and the sound of something heavy hitting the rock floor. She also punched a new hole in the rock wall and let in a little more light, enough light to see what she had just shot.

"What the Hell is that thing?" Abigail asked as she kicked it with the toe of her boot. It looked like a frog that had been bulked up and mutated. Victoria could not see where its eyes were until she took a closer look at what passed for its face. Instead of one eye like most animals, it had multiple smaller eyes sort of like an insect's compound eyes. That must have been the source of the light she had spotted shortly before its attack.

"It must be one of the reptiles that were in the canister. It's too big to be a juvenile." Victoria replied, using what little she knew about the natural world to try and give an answer to Abigail's question. None of Kerwes' creations were of the natural world. About the only thing "natural" about them was their ability to reproduce, but she did not fathom how that was possible and did not want to know. She had always thought that animals created in laboratories were incapable of reproduction because they were artificially created lifeforms.

"So we're fighting bulked-up frogs?" Abigail asked again.

"Looks that way." Victoria commented. She picked up her Light Machine Gun, which had been flung into a corner but was otherwise none the worse for wear. Victoria decided to dispel it to dry it off and brought it out again after waiting about thirty seconds. Even though it was not the handiest weapon in close quarters combat, it was a good one to have because its rate of fire could chew up the opposition in short order. It also served as a warning that the reptiles were near because they had snatched it away the first time, so they might try to snatch it away a second time and in all subsequent encounters.

Victoria and Abigail left it where it was, but not before the blonde mage stabbed it a few times with her Sky Blade and then decapitated it to be certain that it was dead. Victoria knew where Abigail was coming from and did not object. The caves were narrow and they could not afford to leave live enemies behind them in case they had to beat a hasty retreat. Once Abigail was satisfied that the giant frog was truly dead, the pair moved on and pressed deeper into the cave.

-Further in the cave-

Victoria and Abigail pressed on and noticed that there were precious few holes in the ceiling to give them light to see by. Victoria was tempted to blast a few holes in the ceiling with her Beam Cannon, but she did not need to waste magic power on that when there was still more fighting ahead of them. She also did not want to bring the ocean flooding into the caves while they were still inside. The two would just have to make do with what little light there was.

"Look!" Abigail whispered and pointed straight ahead. Victoria paused and dropped to a knee, aiming at flickering lights dancing in the distance. She was not going to be surprised again. This time she would throw the first punch and kill them before they could snatch her weapon away again.

Victoria quietly watched and waited, then fired. She saw specks of blood flash and a loud CROAK issue, then two of the lights got closer. That was when Abigail drew the Sky Blade and took action.

"I've got this." Abigail told Victoria. The gunslinger held her fire and let Abigail move in. She drew the sword back and channeled energy into it, then whipped it forward and spun four times in place as the Sky Blade left a thin silver trail in the air. The three mutant frogs were cut in half and their halves unceremoniously fell to the stone floor with THUDs.

"That was easy." Abigail remarked. Victoria walked up to the bodies to get a look at them, particularly the one she had shot. Her experience with the mutant reptiles on Divide Island had convinced her that all of their ilk were practically immune to small arms fire, but these mutants had thinner skin. It must have been because they were mutated frogs, which did not have scales for protection like their bulkier brethren. That lack of scales made them vulnerable to small arms fire, meaning that Victoria did not have to use the Beam Cannon spell to kill them.

"We beat these guys without breaking a sweat, but there's plenty more where they came from. Be careful!" Victoria warned Abigail. Abigail nodded.

"Don't worry, Victoria. I'll be careful." Abigail replied. Victoria brought up her weapon and the blonde mage fell in behind her. They then continued with their search-and-destroy mission as well as their race against the clock. They did not want to be in here when the tide came in.

Mutant Frogs:

[Word Count: 1,130]
[Total Word Count: 4,676/12,500]

Both mages had lost track of how long they had been in the cave. It could have been a matter of minutes. It could have been hours since they had last seen the outside world. They did not know for certain, but what they did know was that they were in hostile territory with no backup and no way to call for help. They had no choice but to press on and see the job through no matter what happened next.

They kept walking until they came across more of the tunnel that was already underwater. Victoria and Abigail both sighed in unison. They did not have swimwear and were not keen on getting wet, but there was no choice but to press forward. The pair looked at each other and began to take off their footwear because that would weigh them down the most if and when water got into it.

"I hate this." Abigail commented, holding her boots in her left hand.

"Me too." Victoria replied, holding her tennis shoes in her left hand with her socks balled up inside of them. Victoria waded into the cold water and went first. Abigail groaned and readied herself for the plunge, then followed the brunette into the underwater tunnel.

-In the underwater tunnel-

Victoria began to swim forward through the flooded section of tunnel. She did not know how far she had to go, but in a break for her it was a straight swim instead of having to navigate curves in the passageway. Victoria was thankful for small mercies like that. While swimming straight ahead she stole a look behind her to see Abigail easily keeping up. In fact Abigail pulled alongside the brunette for a moment before swimming ahead of her.

Victoria did the best she could to keep up, but the blonde was simply a better swimmer than the Sabertooth mage was. The brunette held her breath and kept going straight until she caught up with Abigail, who had gotten her footing and was standing upright in the waist-high water. Victoria soon caught up and had gotten her footing; she pushed herself into an upright position and climbed out of the water, then walked onto the stone floor to meet up with Abigail.

-On the other side of the underwater tunnel-

"I'm soaked." Abigail complained as she wrung out the front of her blue jean skirt. Victoria saw a flash of black and decided to make a joke at the blonde's expense.

"I see London, I see France..." Victoria sang. Abigail's face turned beet-red and she dropped her skirt.

"Just joking." Victoria said with a wide grin. Abigail frowned and raised a boot to throw at the brunette but decided against it and settled for casting a withering look of disapproval instead. Victoria ignored it and let Abigail finish wringing out her clothing without making any more cheap jokes. Abigail then set her boots down at the side of the tunnel and

"Heh heh. You shoulda seen the look on your face." Victoria quipped. Abigail huffed.

"That's not funny, Victoria." Abigail shot back. Victoria continued to grin so widely that if there were more light in the tunnel her teeth could be used for signal mirrors. She looked at something in the distance and drew her Sky Blade.

"What is it?" Victoria asked the barefoot blonde. Just like that the levity disappeared and the brunette was all business. She brought out her Light Machine Gun and hurried to her partner's side.

"We've got company!" Abigail replied, pointing to glimmering lights in the distance. There were at least four of them, which meant that at least four frogs were moving in to halt their progress. Victoria aimed and opened fire on one of them, holding down the trigger and watching it flail as a barrage of bullets pierced its skin. Abigail jumped into the air towards an amphibian and brought her sword down in a two-handed downward chop, cutting a mutated frog right down the middle. A third frog opened its mouth and fired its tongue at Abigail's right hand, which held her Sky Blade. Abigail shrieked as the tip of the tongue latched onto her hand and retracted, dragging her towards the other frog.

"HELP!" The terrified blonde called out. Victoria dropped her weapon and hurried to her partner's side. She raised a hand and formed it into a gun, then pointed at the frog that had ensnared Abigail's hand. She aimed and fired a Derringer spell at its head. The shot made contact with the right side of the frog's face and startled it into releasing Abigail, who quickly pulled herself free and sprinted towards the second frog.

She took three short sprinting steps and then disappeared in a blur of silver. The frog spurted blood from around its midsection as a thin cut cleaved through its waist. Abigail appeared on the other side of it and kicked the frog's back, separating its upper half from its lower half with a visceral. Victoria took the chance to bring both hands together into the shape of a gun and fire a Hand Cannon at the chest of the frog that had grabbed Abigail. The projectile hit squarely in the chest and caused the mutated amphibian to fall over onto its face and its tongue to roll out of its mouth.

"Thanks." Abigail thanked Victoria and flashed a thumbs-up sign. The brunette returned the gesture with a thumbs-up, then walked back through the tunnel and picked up her Light Machine Gun and her shoes while Abigail walked over to where she had left her boots and reclaimed them. Both girls squeezed out their socks and put them over their shoulders to dry while they walked. Again Victoria took the lead while Abigail followed close behind to keep a lookout for amphibians trying to get behind them. Victoria carefully stepped over the dead amphibians while walking forward with her shoes in one hand and her Light Machine Gun in the other.

-Deeper in the tunnel-

After a good deal of walking the pair reached a point in the tunnel where three beams of weak sunlight were filtering in through three quarter-sized holes arranged in a rough triangle pattern. The pair stopped to take a break and see if their footwear was dry enough to put back on. Victoria put down her shoes and spoke to Abigail.

"You check your footwear, Abigail. I'll watch for trouble." Victoria told the blonde mage while facing the looming darkness in front of them.

[Word Count: 1,108]
[Total Word Count: 5,784/12,500]

Victoria waited in tense silence while Abigail wrung out her socks and put her waterlogged boots back on. She watched and listened for more of the frogs to show up looking for a meal. She thought back to the most recent encounter and recalled that they had the intelligence required to see weapons as a threat and to try and neutralize the threat by grabbing the weapons or the user of the weapons with their tongues and reeling them in for an attack by other mutated frogs. There was something going on upstairs with those mutants. She wondered if the boosted intelligence was intentional on Kerwes' part or if it was just a happy accident.

"OK, I'm finished. Now it's your turn." Abigail said to Victoria. They traded places to give Victoria a chance to wring out her socks and dump any remaining water out of her shoes. Victoria folded out the collapsible bipod of her Light Machine Gun and set the weapon down before balancing herself while leaning against the rock wall.

"So, this Kerwes guy... where do you think he is?" Abigail asked. Victoria had balanced precariously against the rock wall while putting on her left sock and the question nearly threw her off-balance. She recovered and grabbed her right sock from her shoulder.

"I don't know. There aren't too many islands left for him to go to. I've been to Snowfall Island, Shadow Island, Divide Island, and now Crescent Island." Victoria answered while listing all the islands she had visited during the course of her fight against Kerwes. It had started on Snowfall Island with the discovery of the existence of Project Lacedaemon and its namesake Agent Lacedaemon, or A-LAC for short. The encounter before this job took place on Divide Island and had resulted in Victoria entering an underground base, meeting two varieties of mutated reptile, and getting slammed around like a ragdoll by Alexander Kerwes himself, who was a mage who moved fast and hit like a freight train. Rather than end her life then and there in his underground bunker, Alexander let her live just so that they could "fight" again. Abigail listened before asking a question.

"So all of this started on Snowfall Island, huh?" Abigail asked.

"Yeah. I can't say too much about the job, but that's where it started." Victoria answered before wrestling her left shoe onto her foot. She then switched feet and finally put on her right sock, then wrestled her right shoe onto her foot, all while maintaining her precarious balance. Once the task was done she stood upright and picked up her weapon, then folded in the bipod.

"So it's one of those "sworn to secrecy" things, huh?" Abigail asked again.

"Yeah." Victoria replied laconically.

"I figured." Abigail replied with the same economy of words that Victoria had employed. Victoria walked in front of the blonde to take the lead and guide them deeper into the cave.

"Ready to go?" Victoria asked her partner.

"Yeah, let's get going." Abigail answered. Together the pair went deeper into the dimly lit cave.

-Deeper in the cave-

The pair walked until they came across a large room that featured two small tunnels to the left and right that looked like they had recently been excavated. Straight ahead was a tunnel that dipped down into water, meaning that another swim was ahead of them once they were finished here. They had not been excavated by human hands because there were no machines or tools to be found nearby. Most species of reptile did not burrow or dig tunnels, so this must have been something the smart frogs had done to create safe places for their eggs to be laid in.

"That's weird. I didn't think that frogs dug tunnels." Abigail voiced what Victoria was thinking.

"Yeah, but we're talking about frogs that have been experimented on. These are somewhat smarter than the average frog. They also have some means of digging." Victoria reminded her companion. Abigail ignored the response and started to walk as if drawn to the small tunnel on the side of the room. Victoria followed behind her and kept her weapon ready. She soon saw what had attracted Abigail's attention.

"Looks like they've been busy making a family." Abigail remarked, pointing towards the tunnel. Victoria peered into it and saw clusters of eggs dotting the short tunnel and a large cluster of them lining a circular chamber at the end of the newly made tunnel. She dispelled her Light Machine Gun and brought out her Grenade Launcher. Abigail kept peering into the tunnel and her lips moved as she tried to tally how many eggs there were.

"They were just brought here. The adults are maybe weeks old at the most. I don't see how they can already have the ability to reproduce." Victoria weakly protested but soon went quiet because it did not make any sense. She could not make sense of how the new arrivals could start a family only days after being brought here nor understand how they dug tunnels without their hands getting hurt. They were genetically altered, but that still did not quite explain how they could have made tunnels without the claws that the reptiles on Divide Island had.

"I don't get it either, but we've got to get rid of these... eggs." Abigail trailed off. Her green eyes were focused on Victoria's new weapon, a grenade launcher with a rotating drum.

"You've got a weapon for every situation, don't you?" Abigail asked rhetorically.

"Yeah, but before I go firing high-explosive grenades, I've got a question." Victoria answered the rhetorical question before making an inquiry of her own.

"Oh, so now you think before you shoot?" Abigail asked in a joking manner that sounded like there was some sarcasm buried somewhere in the joke. Victoria chose to ignore it and asked her question.

"Do you think the cave's sturdy enough to handle high-explosive grenades without the roof falling in on our heads or the walls springing leaks and flooding the cave with us still in it?" Victoria asked the blonde. Abigail looked at the roof and the walls before answering.

"I'd think so. Now if you were firing armor-piercing rockets or planting satchel charges it'd be a different story." Abigail opined. Victoria gave a nervous laugh. She had the ability to fire armor-piercing rockets with her Rocket Launcher and had the same thought as her companion. Bunker Buster shots were definitely out of the question.

"Don't tell me that you can use anti-armor rockets. Please don't." Abigail pleaded.

"OK. I won't." Victoria answered dryly while staring at the egg clusters and mentally calculating the trajectory of her grenades. The grenades followed an arcing trajectory, but she would have to take into account the projectile speed boost provided by the Bandolier. Abigail whimpered.

"Why did I pick today to take a job with a walking arsenal?" Abigail asked rhetorically.

[Word Count: 1,190]
[Total Word Count: 6,974/12,500]

Victoria brought up her Grenade Launcher to shoulder level and aimed at the green leathery eggs in the circular room at the far end of the tunnel. Abigail instinctively took a step back. So did Victoria. What she was about to do could get... messy. Victoria steadied her aim, then squeezed the trigger and felt the kick of the Grenade Launcher as a high-explosive grenade was launched into the middle of the cluster and exploded roughly five seconds later in a ball of flame.

The eggs were incinerated, but more surprisingly, the room showed no signs of being structurally compromised. Victoria took several steps back and aimed at the eggs in the right tunnel, then fired another grenade that rolled to a stop right in front of an egg that was just beginning to hatch. It did not get a chance to hatch all the way before the ball of flame consumed it and its siblings, destroying the eggs completely. Victoria looked down the tunnel and saw that the eggs were completely gone, which suited her just fine.

With that tunnel cleared, Victoria turned around and glanced into the left tunnel. Inside the situation was the same as the tunnel she had just cleaned out. Victoria stepped back the opposite way for ten steps, then aimed and fired. A grenade landed neatly in the center of the room and went off, destroying the eggs clustered around it. She aimed and fired again at the eggs lining the tunnel and the explosive neatly rolled to a stop before clearing the tunnel.

"Damn." Was all Abigail could say to the Sabertooth mage after the latter's quick and messy destruction of the egg clusters. The Grenade Launcher had done its job very well and with no wasted time or effort. The eggs were now nothing more than a memory... what little was left of them was globs of green leather decorating the tunnel where they once sat waiting to hatch.

"Unfortunately we're gonna have to go for another swim. At least we cleared this area of eggs, but there have to be more in the deeper parts of the cave." Victoria declared without enthusiasm. She was here to do a job and nothing more. Abigail was quick to catch onto her partner's lack of enthusiasm.

"What? No quip about bringing out the marshmallows?" Abigail asked. Victoria dispelled her Grenade Launcher and took off her shoes in complete silence.

"Normally you have a joke about things like this. This must be a serious situation." Abigail commented without any trace of levity. Victoria finished taking off her shoes and preparing herself for the swim ahead.

"W-Wait for me!" Abigail cried out before hurriedly taking off her socks and boots. Victoria wordlessly waited for her partner and kept an eye on the water in case company was swimming their way. She waited until Abigail was finished and then silently slipped into the water to swim to the other side.

-Under the water-

Victoria swam ahead and looked for any frogs that had assembled to stop them, but none had presented themselves yet. She did not intend to give them a chance to set up an underwater ambush and powered through the tunnel with Abigail swimming right behind her. Victoria barely paid attention to her and kept going as fast as she could.

The tunnel was fairly long but the two were making good time. Victoria had not entered a stage of distress yet, so she kept swimming rapidly and soon saw the surface. Abigail swam beside Victoria and the pair soon reached the surface, climbing onto a rocky shelf and standing upright while water poured from their garments and hair.

-Inside the tunnel-

Victoria and Abigail ignored the water dripping from their hair and looked around the large chamber they now found themselves standing in. It was circular and dotted with tidal pools large enough to house the frogs... or their eggs. They could not see clearly yet, but it looked like a small group of five frogs had gathered to stop them from destroying any other egg clusters. Victoria had a quick and easy solution to this.

She brought out her Grenade Launcher and took aim at the sluggish frogs lumbering towards them. She quickly aimed and fired a grenade towards their feet. The explosive stopped just as one put their foot down and went off seconds later, sending frog parts flying all over the cave. A frog torso landed at Victoria's feet with a THUMP and green blood began to stain the rock.

"Damn. Remind me to never piss you off." Abigail remarked while wiping frog blood off of her legs and dipping her hand into the water to remove the blood. Victoria quietly looked around the room in search of egg clusters or more frogs to blast into pieces. It did not take long because one of them jumped out of the tidal pool to their immediate left and aimed its tongue at Abigail. The blonde sprung into action and ducked under the tongue, then leaped into the air with her shining blade held out.

She landed right in front of it and brought the sword down in a two-handed chop that cut the frog in half with little effort. Its pieces fell onto the rocks and the green blood began to lightly stain the water it had emerged from. Victoria spotted an egg cluster in the tidal pool to her immediate right and aimed her Grenade Launcher, then fired a shot that gently landed in two inches of water. The grenade went off three seconds later, kicking up water and chunks of egg in a disgusting geyser that threatened to splash the mages.

"You've got this egg-destroying thing down." Abigail said to her.

"Yeah. We don't want these guys hatching and swimming out of this cave to snack on tourists or resort staff. Crescent Island would go out of business from all the lost revenue and all the lawsuits." Victoria briefly explained why she was so devoted to wiping out the mutant frogs. She was getting tired of Kerwes' games and wanted to face the man himself so that she could end the threat once and for all. Another frog leapt out of the second pool to the left of Abigail and immediately tried to grab her with its tongue. The blonde mage avoided it and sprinted to close the distance, then focused magic into her sword as two more frogs hopped out of the same pool to do battle with her.

"Watch out!" Victoria yelled. Abigail was not concerned in the slightest.

"I've got this." She told Victoria with confidence. Abigail swung her Sky Blade horizontally left and the three frogs paused in place as the silver afterimage of the sword appeared in front of them and lingered for a moment. They then fell apart and their bodies toppled over like someone knocking over a house of cards.

"WIND REAPER!" Abigail called out. Victoria was impressed by the blonde's magical power and the speed and precision with which she used it.

"Nice work." Victoria said laconically. Abigail gave a thumbs-up.

"Hey, I see a cluster over there." Abigail pointed out an egg cluster to the brunette. It sat in the third tidal pool to the right and was waiting to be blasted.

[Word Count: 1,234]
[Total Word Count: 8,208/12,500]

"OK, I'll blast it." Victoria said to Abigail while aiming for the cluster that had been pointed out to her. She fired and a grenade neatly fell into the shallow water. Victoria mentally counted to three and was rewarded with a geyser of water erupting and showering the area in water and frog egg parts. There were at least two more egg clusters in the immediate area that needed to be blasted out of existence, but first they had to deal with another trio of frogs that had arrived to put a stop to their eggs being scrambled by grenades.

"At the opposite end of the room!" Abigail pointed towards them with the Sky Blade.

"Not a problem." Victoria calmly replied. She aimed towards the slowly moving trio and fired a grenade that landed and skittered a short distance before being stopped by a frog that that accidentally stepped on it. Three seconds later it went off and scattered mutant frog everywhere. Victoria herself was mildly disgusted by the aftermath because her choice of weapon was probably a bit excessive, but it was the quickest way to eliminate the enemies without wasting time changing weapons, time they could use to close in and snag Abigail or herself. Victoria changed her aim to the egg clusters spotted in the fourth tidal pool on each side of the room.

She fired at the one on the left and the projectile lazily arced through the air and landed in front of a cluster. She fired at the one on the right and it too landed on target. Three seconds later and the clusters exploded; the left one went off almost a full two seconds before the right one did, but the result was the same. Two more clusters of mutated frogs would not reach maturity and threaten the islanders. Abigail tapped on Victoria's shoulder and gestured to the water around them, which was slowly changing somehow.

"Victoria, the water's... the water's rising!" Abigail exclaimed. Victoria's eyes widened. The water level was starting to rise and they were still inside the cave. The tide had come in just like Martha had warned them about!

"Damn it!" Victoria hissed. She was not sure that they had killed all the frogs and destroyed all the egg clusters. If they left the job unfinished, the surviving frogs would just produce more eggs and this whole mess would start all over again. The mages had to finish the job while they were still here or the opportunity would be lost. Victoria would not leave Mermaid Cove until all of them were destroyed.

"We can't leave here without making sure all of those mutated frogs are dead, but we don't have SCUBA gear to help us. If the water level gets too high and we can't find an air pocket, we'll drown for sure!" Abigail outlined the risk they ran by staying in a cave with rising water levels. Victoria knew the risk, but she was willing to run it if it meant finishing the job right. She walked towards the end of the room and saw that there was another underwater passage to swim through. She was not thrilled with the idea, but she had to do this with or without Abigail.

"I'm going ahead, Abigail. We can't let this chance go to waste." Victoria declared the choice she had already made. Abigail groaned and held her head in her hands. Victoria could tell that the blonde was struggling to make her decision. She was torn between continuing the hunt and leaving while she still could.

Victoria dispelled her Grenade Launcher and peered into the water ahead of her. No glowing eyes beneath the surface meant that it was safe to get in, but she did not want to wait too long to start swimming so that Abigail could join her for what was hoped to be the final stretch. After waiting nearly a full minute, the barefoot brunette could wait no longer. She walked into the water and dipped beneath the surface and started the long swim.

-In the underwater tunnel-

Victoria swam quickly through the tunnel before an underwater ambush could be set up by any vengeful amphibians on the way to stop her. She did not see Abigail behind her, but that could not be helped. The Sabertooth mage would press on and complete the mission without help if she had to.

Speaking of Abigail, it was funny how their positions had changed. A few months ago it was Abigail who wanted to be the martyr and save a distant traveler attacked by werewolves during the delivery run from Sakuramori to Mr. Wainwright's fortified estate in the Cursed Lands. Now it was the brunette who was willing to risk her life to do the right thing. Victoria did not have time to ponder the shift because the end of the tunnel was coming up fast and that meant that it would soon be fight time.

Victoria powered through the final stretch and broke the surface. She hastily clambered onto the rocky shelf and brought out her Light Machine Gun as four mutated frogs confronted her. It was go time.

-In the cavern-

Victoria ducked under the tongue attacks and fired into the first frog standing in front of her. She held down the trigger and watched it twitch as it was riddled with bullets... it eventually dropped and its tongue rolled out of its mouth as it lay dying. There were still three of them left and they would not wait their turn to be killed. Victoria brought out a Sticky Grenade and lobbed it into the mouth of a frog preparing to try and fire its tongue at her. She had to dodge the attacks of the other two while waiting for the inevitable to happen.

When the Sticky Grenade went off it blew a basketball-sized hole in the stomach of the amphibian, but it was not dead yet and began to stagger towards her with the intent of holding her in place long enough for its friends to kill her. Victoria finished it with gunfire but dropped the weapon when she felt a SPLAT on her right shoulder and a liquid run down the arm. Moments later an intense burning sensation gripped her arm and forced her to drop her weapon. Her arm was burning like someone had thrown acid on it!

Victoria saw that the sleeve of her shirt had been burned away and the skin beneath it looked like she had just received a bad sunburn. To make matters worse, more frogs were arriving to the scene and they looked angry. Victoria fired a Derringer into the head of a frog and hurt it badly by putting out its right eye cluster, but it quickly recovered and continued to move in on her. Abigail's help would be welcome right about now.

[Word Count: 1,164]
[Total Word Count: 9,372/12,500]

The wounded Victoria found herself hemmed in by a slowly increasing number of mutant frogs who were glaring at her with shimmering eyes. They were bent on avenging their eggs and their fallen friends. She had to turn the tables before she ended up on the menu. Victoria focused magic into her hands and pushed forward, firing a burst of steel ball bearings that ripped into three frogs in front of her and killed them from multiple wounds to vital internal organs. Claymore Burst had taken out a few of them, but she still had about a dozen more amphibians to contend with before she would be out of the frying pan.

They continued to shuffle forward with murder on their minds. Victoria tried to reach for her Light Machine Gun when a frog's tongue grabbed the weapon and pulled it out of the brunette's reach. She aimed and fired a Derringer at the offender and clipped it on the right side of its head, only lightly wounding it. She followed up with a Hand Cannon to the chest that punched through its thin skin and killed it, but killing it did nothing to bring her weapon back to her. In any event another frog grabbed the Light Machine Gun with its tongue and flung it to the far side of the cave, making its retrieval impossible.

"Damn." Victoria commented. These frogs were smart enough to recognize the threat that the weapon posed and take it out of play. Unfortunately for them she had more than one weapon in her arsenal. She dispelled the Light Machine Gun and brought out the Submachine Gun for personal defense as they continued to close the distance. Victoria spotted one of them spitting something at her and raised a Caduceus Shield with her left hand, blocking the burning substance just in time and preventing it from reaching her left shoulder. These amphibians were also smart enough to try and cripple their prey with globs of acid to joints before moving in for the kill... it was a good thing Victoria pressed ahead to stop them before they could turn the entire cave into a hatchery for their young.

Victoria raised the Submachine Gun and jammed the barrel against the top of a frog's head, then used an Empty The Magazine to discharge all twenty rounds of the weapon's magazine into its skull, killing it and getting her right arm bloody from the spatter. Another frog fired its tongue at the Sabertooth mage, but Victoria saw it coming and ducked under the appendage to avoid being snagged or losing a second weapon. She retaliated with a Three-Round Burst that hurt it and put a few holes in its chest but did not seriously hinder its ability to fight.

Another frog fired a burst of acid from its mouth that landed on her left thigh and began to burn away her skirt. A panicked Victoria instinctively patted it with her hands and burned them slightly trying to keep her skirt from being completely burned away. While the brunette was busy with that painful distraction another frog used its tongue to grab her left wrist and pull her to the ground. Victoria fought the pain in her shoulder to raise the Submachine Gun high enough to shoot the frog and get free.

Victoria raised it high enough to get a good shot and fired another Three-Round Burst, catching it in the chest and getting free for a moment. She quickly got to her feet and jammed the weapon against the chest of a frog trying to grab her, then used Empty The Magazine to kill it by ripping a hole in its chest and hitting its heart with twenty rounds. Victoria shoved the dead amphibian back and tried to get an aim on another enemy when a tongue wrapped around her Submachine Gun and yanked it out of her grasp.

"Not again!" Victoria complained. Another frog spit acid at her and she jumped back to avoid the corrosive substance, feeling pain from her left thigh when she landed. Where was Abigail?

The brunette thought of bringing out her Grenade Launcher and finishing the fight in one explosive shot, but the frogs were too close and she would be caught in the blast radius of her own grenade, which would not be good for her continued well-being. She also did not want to fire a Beam Cannon because while one shot would kill an amphibian, it would also punch a hole in the rock and let more water in faster than it was already flowing into the cave. The brunette's options were limited by the circumstances she was fighting in.

Victoria brought out her Shotgun and raised it towards a frog. She aimed for the head and fired a Solid Slug that punched through its skull and killed it instantly. It flopped to the left and lay motionless, but her victory was short-lived because the rest of the amphibians were pressing their advantage and Abigail was nowhere to be seen. Victoria aimed her Shotgun at the head of another frog and readied a round of Big Shot when a tongue wrapped around the weapon's barrel and snatched it out of her hands.

Victoria dispelled both missing weapons and tried to think of another weapon or spell she could use to fight her way out of this mess. Victoria's left wrist was grabbed by a frog and she was pulled to the ground with a forceful yank. She was being dragged towards the frog and four of its waiting friends and there was very little she could do to stop it. Victoria heard splashing sounds coming from the left and behind her and feared that it was more amphibians coming to join the dinner party that would be starting shortly. Instead it was a familiar face.

"Hang on, Vic!" Abigail called out. She crouched and slammed the ground with both fists, generating an intense shockwave of air that radiated from her. It knocked the frogs off their feet and halted Victoria's drag towards the frogs waiting for a meal. The brunette used her Trench Knife spell to generate the edged weapon and cut the tongue with her right hand, freeing herself and rising to her feet in time to face the threat.

"Thanks, Abby." Victoria thanked her blonde colleague, who decided to show up after all.

"Don't mention it. Let's finish this!" Abigail suggested. Victoria brought out her Light Machine Gun and was ready to oblige.

Abigail performed a downward stroke with her Sky Blade and decapitated a frog that was about to spit acid on her. Victoria jammed the barrel of her weapon against the head of a downed frog and fired a Five-Round Burst into it, killing the amphibian instantly. Thanks to Abigail's timely intervention there were only a few of them left.

[Word Count: 1,162]
[Total Word Count: 10,534/12,500]

The two mages began the task of cleaning out the cave before it flooded and trapped them inside. Abigail stabbed another frog through the chest and ripped downward, exposing its internal organs for everyone to see before taking a two-handed horizontal swing and cleaving it in two at the waist. Victoria gagged at the sight and turned her weapon on another frog that was aiming a burst of acid at her face. She shot first and riddled its chest with bullets, knocked it onto its back. The hapless amphibian must have been almost ready to fire because just after it landed it spit acid into the air and the corrosive spit landed on its face, burning some of the skin off of its skull and causing it great pain as it thrashed about. Victoria fired a Five-Round Burst into its head to put it out of its misery... she did not want it to suffer like that.

"You didn't tell me that they could spit acid!" Abigail shouted before she spun around a frog who had just spit at her and stabbed it in the back, the Sky Blade punching through its torso and emerging on the other side. The frog thrashed violently for a few moments before ceasing movement and falling forward onto the cold rock floor.

"I just found out that they could do it and didn't have time to tell you!" Victoria responded. She ducked under a speeding tongue and shot the offender with a Five-Round Burst to the face. It flopped to the ground and twitched in pain. Victoria ended its pain with another Five-Round Burst to the head.

"There's just two more! I've got these guys!" Abigail called out. She made a sprinting motion and disappeared in a silver blur. The two frogs paused in place and searched in vain for the blonde who was just in the area. A thin silver afterimage appeared and blood spurted from the waists of the two amphibians and Abigail reappeared beside Victoria. Moments later the frogs fell in two pieces and lay on the floor.

"Heh. They never saw my Hurricane Fang coming!" Abigail bragged. Victoria dispelled her weapon and took a few deep breaths. It was over.

"I'll look around and see if there are more of those egg clusters we need to smash." Abigail said while the brunette recovered from the ordeal she had just went through. Victoria prepared and cast a Medical Bag spell on herself, healing the acid burns on her shoulder and thigh and causing them to no longer hurt. The red splotches were still there, but they were purely cosmetic thanks to her healing magic. Unfortunately the left side of her skirt looked like it had been burned away... there was nothing she could do about that until she got back to the resort.

"Hey, there's a couple of them over here!" Abigail called out and waved to Victoria. The rejuvenated brunette sprinted to her partner and glanced at the eggs nestled in shallow tidal pools. Abigail ran away as she brought out a Sticky Grenade and lobbed it directly onto the eggs. Victoria hustled away to avoid getting caught in the blast and five seconds later a geyser of water and egg parts rained down.

Victoria returned and threw another Sticky Grenade onto the second egg cluster. She jogged away as the countdown beeped and five seconds later another geyser flared to a brief but violent life. Once the water had settled down Abigail resumed scouting around the cave for more eggs.

"I'm not seeing any more just yet. Hang on." Abigail told her. Victoria obliged and let the blonde do most of the legwork while she waited for the signal to move in and do her thing. Victoria waited for about eight minutes before Abigail jogged back to her.

"I think we've got them all, Victoria. Let's get outta here!" Abigail informed her partner before suggesting a quick retreat.

"I won't argue with that." Victoria said to Abigail. Victoria turned to the underwater tunnel she and Abigail had used to access this place and took turns going in. Abigail took the lead this time. Both of them had to hurry before the tide fully came in.

-Outside Mermaid Cove, one hour later-

"We did it!" Abigail exclaimed as the pair lowered themselves from the rocky shelf of the cove and onto the wet sand outside the cove.

"Yeah. We made it just in time." Victoria agreed with her job partner. They had killed all the adult frogs and eliminated all of their egg clusters, ending the threat to Crescent Island. They had also made it out of the cave before it was fully flooded with the coming of the tide. It was dark outside, but a full moon lit the way for them.

"I hope we don't have to come back here unless it's on vacation." Abigail said to Victoria.

"Me neither." Victoria replied as she walked away from the cove and towards the beach they had used to access the cove. Abigail followed close behind. They had a long walk to get back to the resort, but now that the frogs had been neutralized the pressure was off.

"Do you think they have any rooms for rent? I don't feel like catching a boat and going all the way to Oak Town." Abigail asked Victoria.

"No clue, Abby. We'll find out at the resort." Victoria replied. The wind blew through the giant hole in her skirt and made her cold. She could not wait to get indoors.

-Back at the resort, Martha's office, forty minutes later-

"Oh my! You two look rough!" Martha said to the two mages. They were wet, cold, and covered in frog blood. Victoria's skirt was also half-missing. At least her Azure Armor and backpack were here.

"Yeah. It was rough, but we did it. The threat to the island should be over." Victoria informed the red-headed hotel manager. Martha smiled for the first time in the day.

"Great work!" She said to them before grabbing a pair of plastic keycards from the drawer of her desk and going into the hotel lobby. They heard the rapid tapping of computer keys and the sound of plastic being swiped. A beaming Martha returned to the room and handed them the cards.

"I just booked you two a free night in the VIP suites. Don't worry about Jewels. It's on me!" Martha said to them. The pair looked at her, then each other, and smiled. They did not have to return to the mainland right away. That was good because they were too tired to even think about making the trip.

"THANKS!" The two mages exclaimed in unison. They would not be staying in budget rooms tonight. They would be staying in VIP suites reserved for Wizard Saints, Gods and Goddesses of Ishgar, and other notables who patronized the resort. The blonde and the brunette could hardly believe their luck.

"It's no problem. You two did this island a great service. Now go on and have a good night!" Martha urged them. The pair grabbed their belongings and made a beeline for the elevators. They were glad to have such nice lodging gifted to them as thanks for their work.

[Word Count: 1,238]
[Total Word Count: 11,772/12,500]

-Inside VIP Suite Number 20-

Victoria and Abigail finally opened their room door and were hit in the face with air so frigid that they shivered when they went inside. Abigail closed the door and their pair were finally alone in their room. It was a large room with an ocean theme; the wallpaper was a tasteful white with the occasional blue seashell or blue starfish and the 60" television had a screen saver of ocean waves lapping at a sandy shore. The sink was a white marble sink with complimentary soap in immaculate white wrappers placed on the right side of the sink.

In the room were two queen-sized beds made up with beautiful white sheets. The pillowcases were also white and the beds looked like they had been cleaned just today. It was a good thing that there were separate beds because a few of the people in the lobby thought that Victoria and Abigail were a couple who were on a date.

The two mages almost did not want to step on the immaculate beige carpet that was vaguely reminiscent of sand. It was a good thing that they had taken their shoes off and washed their feet off at one of the washing stations on the beach. Victoria set down her Azure Armor, backpack, and Crown of Persephone on a wooden desk that was on the left side of the room. Abigail carried her Sky Blade into the bathroom with her.

"I'll get a shower first." Abigail claimed the bathroom. Victoria was too tired to argue, so she wordlessly let the blonde go first. Abigail drew a while plastic curtain decorated with pink seashells over the sink area to block herself from view, disrobed, shut the door and left the brunette to her own devices.

Victoria was glad that the job was over. She was glad that she did not have to fight any more mutant amphibians dwelling in a cave that was prone to being flooded when the tide came in. She was glad that Crescent Island would be safe and that no guests or resort staff would be eaten by mutant amphibians. The reckoning with Alexander Kerwes would take place as soon as Franklin Kerwes could ascertain his wayward son's location. For now Victoria was content that the scientist's diversion had failed to kill her and that his plan to turn Crescent Island into a breeding ground for mutant frogs had been thwarted.

Victoria stood in place and wondered where she would be going once Franklin Kerwes had given her the information she had been waiting on. She had hopped all the islands and was fairly sure that Alexander would not revisit Snowfall Island. As poetic as their final confrontation being set where he had first refined the formula for A-LAC would be, she was sure that he would not return to a place he had already been. Alexander likely had a new base somewhere else in Earthland that she would have to journey to.

The brunette patiently waited for her turn in the shower while wondering where the rogue scientist could be now. She was getting tired of chasing him around Earthland and wanted to end him once and for all before he experimented on any more innocent people. She would find out as soon as Franklin Kerwes contacted her. Now the waiting game had begun.

[Word Count: 568]
[Total Word Count: 12,340/12,500]

-The next day, the resort lobby-

Victoria and Abigail had finished checking out of the room and were on their way to the docks to hitch a boat to the mainland. There was no time to rest on their laurels... there were more jobs on the mainland that needed doing and more evil that needed to be put in its place. The pair turned away from the wooden reception desk and were on their way to the glass doors when they were stopped by Martha, the redheaded manager who had hired them for the job they had completed yesterday.

"Thanks again for all your help." She thanked the two mages.

"It's no problem. It's what we do." Victoria replied to the resort manager. It was a tough job, but it was one that needed to be done in order to protect the innocent people of Crescent Island. It was also a lucrative job that would be well worth the effort it took to complete.

"We're glad that we could help!" Abigail cheerfully replied. She had proven to be a reliable job partner who could more than hold her own when push came to shove. It was a good thing that Abigail had been hired to help Victoria because the headstrong brunette had gotten into trouble near the end and needed a helping hand. Abigail was there to provide that helping hand when it was needed the most.

"I won't hold you two up any longer. Just know that you're always welcome here. Maybe next time you two can come here on vacation instead of on a job!" Martha expressed the hope that they would return some day. Victoria had liked staying in the VIP suite and would like to return as a guest so that she could spend more then twelve hours in a luxury suite. Abigail felt the same way and wanted to come back some day.

"Thanks for everything!" Martha said to the pair. They waved goodbye and walked through the sliding glass doors on their way to the docks.

-Outside the hotel, resort grounds-

A steady stream of newly arrived tourists dressed in their finest vacation clothing walked off of the docks and made progress a bit slow, but the two mages eventually reached the docks and managed to get on a boat headed for the mainland. They had to wait fifteen minutes under the beating sun, but eventually the boat lifted the gangplank and set off for the mainland. Victoria and Abigail would be off to their next adventures. The brunette hoped that the pair would work together again some day, hopefully under circumstances that were less stressful than those of the job they had just completed.

[Word Count: 456]
[Total Word Count: 12,796/12,500]