The fish that got away

It was the wee hours of the morning. The academy was silent. There was the usual eerie stillness that pervades the early morning. Birds were only just starting to get active, and only the most dedicated students and staff were beginning their day. Many were making breakfast, others getting some exercise in, and others still were getting a jump start on school work.

Anthony Toselli... was not one of those people. Like many students, he did his best to sleep to the very last minute possible, although it was certainly still a reasonable time to be asleep. Hovering a foot above his sleeping body was the ever present doorway into his dreams. This one shimmered with shades of blue and green. Peering inside would show lush, bizarre foliage, like a twisted jungle. Sounds could be heard softly coming from inside. It sounded like metal on metal, the clash of weaponry. It grew louder, until it stopped suddely, replaced by the quick patter of running through grass.

A large humanoid form leaped from the portal, landing gracefully in the middle of the room. It glanced around quickly and escaped through the open window. But moments later, a sound of cursing came from the portal, and another humanoid came out of the portal, a bit more gingerly. This was a human dressed in leather armor, and wielding a heavy one handed sword. He was the spitting image of the boy sleeping nearby, just in the form of a battle hardened warrior. The new Tony looked down at himself sleeping for a moment, and resumed his chase of the creature out the open window.

Bounding across campus at an impressive rate, Dream Tony chased the creature across the Academy grounds. Most people who saw them just backed away confused, and went on their day. A few recognized the seriousness in Tony's eyes, and ran to go get help. The creature was determined to get away from the pursuing warrior, ducking past any obstacles it could manage. It sliced through a small tree crosswise with it's halberd. The cut was instant and clean like a knife through butter. The tree slowed Tony down, but only for an instant. "Get back here!" He shouted and ran around the felled tree.

The creature had it's goal in sight. The lake. It had smelled the distinct scent of water even back at the dorm. It made a beeline for the dock. Able to run in a straight line, Tony was able to close the distance, but it wasn't enough. The creature ran to the edge of the dock, stopped, and turned to face Tony. Tony stopped to face off against the creature.

With the chase at an end, it was easy to get a good look at Tony's strange quarry. It was a fish-like humanoid with light blue skin and yellow fins going along it's arms and back. It was probably male, as it was quite masculine with a large upper body. Gills went along the sides of it's neck. It had blood red eyes, and an equally red gem set in it's forehead. Short antlers came out of the back of its elongated head, and a set of vicious teeth, like a shark, adorned it's face.

Tony edged forward, towards the creature, while maintaining a fighting stance. "Come quietly, and I'll make this as painless as possible!" The creature edged back against the end of the dock, pointing the halberd menacingly at Tony. It called back with a scratchy voice, "You cannot stop us. You cannot stop me. Although the great one has fallen, it will rise again. Your world will burn." It took a step back off the dock, and plunged into the water.

Tony jerked forward, too late to stop the creature from entering the water. "NO!" It had the advantage now. As the creature spun around to swim away, it ran right into the swimming water nymph, Gale. A moment of confusion, followed by clarity. It called out to her, "Kill this mongrel, I must reunite with the others."

A look of horror went over Tony's face when he saw the girl swimming there. If the creature figured out that Gale was not one of it's kind, it could kill her right there. "Get away from it! It's dangerous!" He kicked off his boots and dove after the creature. It turned it's back to Gale to face Tony, who was swimming slowly closer. His armor was just too bulky, and he couldn't swim too fast. "You fool! You dare fight in the water? I'll kill you right here!"

Tony was a little startled to see the creature rise out of the water, trapped in a bubble. He had never seen them do anything like that before. However, seeing Gale waving her arms around in a strange manner, he figured she must be doing it. The creature thrashed around in anger, waving the halberd around dangerously. "What is this!? Release me!" It cried out in rage.

A grin crossed Tony's face, looking up at the creature. Speaking out to Gale, he said, "Thanks, that will do nicely." He poised himself under the floating creature and gripped his sword tightly with both hands. A feeling of pressure pervaded the air as Tony focused and pulled back for the finishing blow. All at once he exploded upwards out of the water with a spiral, and cleaved through the creature cleanly. The creature cried out once and with a shudder, it just seemed to fall apart. Each piece breaking into smaller pieces, until nothing but blood stained the bubble of water. The halberd itself dissolved into shining gold particles, like motes of dust in the sunlight. Those eventually vanished as well.

Tony was breathing heavy from the exertion and struggled to reach the dock. With some effort he pulled himself up onto it and sat on the edge. He set his sword down. It felt rather heavy now that his work was done. He looked out at Gale and beckoned her over. "Are you alright? I'm sorry you had to see that. It escaped from me, and couldn't just let it roam free. What was that thing you did? Magic? God, I can't believe I asked that. I've haven't been here that long, but I've seen so much already I'll believe anything."

"Oh!" He smacked his forehead. "How rude of me. I'm Tony, well sort of. It's complicated."