Exit pursued by sashimi connoisseurs

Pham Thi Anh Sang

Anh Sang kept the light-woven net in front of her, watching through it as the other two people charged at the mermaids. There were only three of them, she thought as she quickly scanned the area for other enemies. That group seemed like all there was, for the time. What took her back was that they were all so tall and scary looking. All of them were armed with crude-looking harpoon guns, with bundles of extra harpoons slung over their shoulders as if they were arrows. Maybe it was just the rush of battle but the only real difference she could tell between them were the ribbons in their hair -a dirty red for one, faded blue for another, and neon yellow for the last.

The Power Ranger man swiped his sword at all three of them and for a moment, she thought that he had actually managed to hit one. Red and Blue staggered back to avoid the blow but Yellow moved at such inhuman speed that suddenly, it was behind the man. With no time to reload its gun, it simply started to use it as a club, swinging an attack downwards.

Anh Sang screamed out a warning, but her attention was on Red and Blue as they reloaded. Running low on butterflies, she sent the few remaining ones to attack the mermaids' faces as a distraction.

Pham Thi Anh Sang

The explosion of activity was a dizzy blur, nothing at all like what had happened with Oliver just last year (or was it two or three or-?). Maybe it was because something about that time had been familiar, because she knew who was on the other side and didn't understand that it might not have been okay in the end. She still thought it always would have ended up okay. It didn't seem right otherwise.

This, though? This was strange. This was her and classmates and people who lived on the island against things that weren't. The boy who had been with them, she wasn't too worried about, not with the way that the light was shining so strongly around him. Light and air were good, darkness and water were bad. The world was entirely white and black. White always won. That was a simple, trusting truth.

Sometimes on windy days, Anh Sang would worry about bugs being blown into her eyes. It just plain sucked and because she knew this, that was what she was doing with Red and Blue then. She remembered a time, too, when she had closed her eyes and waved her hands around to brush them again only to walk right into a tree.

She took some of the light from her shield, shrinking it down by half. Most of her attention was on Red and Blue. The butterflies flurried in a frenzy around their eyes. The two mermaids howled out, trying to protect their faces and accidentally slashed themselves as they did so. Blue's harpoon gun suddenly fired -right into his tail.

Meanwhile, Yellow was still fighting the Power Ranger man. It had managed to block the man's swings but now its harpoon gun was badly bent from impact. For a moment, Yellow eyed him like a predator stalking its prey before suddenly throwing the harpoon gun at his head and lunging forward to grab the human's weapon.

Pham Thi Anh Sang

She let out a squeak as Yellow and the Power Ranger man fought. Though she didn't know what the man had done after grabbing the mermaid's arm, there was no way for her to not hear it scream. Yellow struggled back, trying to wretch its arm free but its movements now were decidedly twitchy and not at all effective.

With the harpoon bolt in its tail and half blinded by blood, Blue stumbled over to where Yellow and the man were fighting. Red followed close behind, also with blood in its eyes. Very quickly, the three mermaids were a chaotic tangle, all intent on ripping somebody to shreds.

Running up to the knot, Anh Sang began bashing her weapon down on everything she could. "Go away go away go away!"

Pham Thi Anh Sang

Anh Sang was a simple girl with simple impulses, meaning that she kept whacking mermaids with her staff even after they were most likely dead. For one, she honestly couldn't tell if they were still alive or not and for another, well. Hitting bad things repeatedly was good right? It was the same sort of logic as wrapping herself up in a bunch of blankets to hide from the monsters under her bed, just more active. And bloody. And tiring.

The first clue she got that she should maybe stop was that the power ranger man had also stop. Blinking at him in confusion, her hands automatically brought her weapon down one more time. Whack. And then, slowly, again. With the end of her lightforged staff, she poked one of the mermaids. It didn't move but that didn't mean much to her. After all, Anh Sang knew plenty of people who didn't move in their sleep.

She poked it a few more times in fascination. "Um, is it dead?"