Taunting Tides [Queen of the Paddling Pool/Irvine]

There was quite the disturbance in the aquatic biodome at the moment.
Earlier in the day, a certain man had been sent there to deal with one of their suppliers, since nobody else had been available. This much went off without issue. It was a routine affair, and the man knew all too well how to handle affairs such as those. At this point, they were quite simple.

No...there was a disturbance because he had been feeling the stirrings of mischief afterwards, and he had just the set of friends to help him enact the plans that tended to call forth with him.

It was because of this that there was now a gigantic wave rolling across the waters, with a man on a stone disk laughing maniacally on top of it all.
It was kind of hard to ignore.

Zako would call out to seemingly no one as he carefully and precisely rode the gigantic wave as optimally as possibly to keep himself from both falling off as well as keeping his speed up as much as possible. Honestly he had no idea where a wave this big could of came from or how, but he didn't care right now. He finally had a chance to try to outrun Luna and beat her at her own game for once and he wasn't about ready to back down! Even if he was confident, the shark like creature would bend lower to his board and kept his wits about him, just in case any moment was his last.

Deep under the wave, another aquatic creature was effortlessly slipping her way through the ocean. Trying her absolute hardest to keep gaining, slowly and slowly on the ever rushing away wave above. Her whole body and self was perfectly designed to sleek through the water at high speeds, though she had to admit this was a might challenge even for her. Though her competitive spirit burned bright, she wouldn't dare give Zako the free win! She was going to knock him off that board even if it killed her!

A look of surprise flashed across Irvine's face as he heard a voice. Looking down, he found...there was actually someone riding the goddamn wave.
...this was even better than he could have hoped, and he announced that to the world with the mad cackling that ensued. "Oh, man, I have gotta see this guy. GUYS! BRING HIM UP, COULD YA!"
Zako would find himself rising up the wave, the water eventually parting so he could be carried to the top without getting him caught in the crashing wave. Up atop the wave, he'd find himself riding the waters aside the man on top of it all, grinning as he stood atop his stone disk with his arms out wide.


"Well hellll-lo there! Enjoying the ride?" He winks at Zako before turning back toward the direction the wave was moving, looking at him over his shoulder with that same toothy grin. "Gotta hope so, took enough to get it going!"

"Huh? Wait, what?" The purple scaled shark would seem just as surprised as the guy above him that there was another person riding this wave, and not only that but riding the literal top of the wave. Damn dude that guy had balls! Though wait, wad he mean by guys bring him up? "W-wwooahh!" Leaning so that both his tail and one hand drifted through the water to keep his balance, Zako would seem more than a little confused about how he was being ridden to the top of the wave. Though once he was up there. Damn dude the view up here was so sweet! "You bet'cha I am! This waves colossal! Couldn't believe my luck when it turned up." The shark would reply, returning a fanged grin to the guy. "Though wadd'ya mean get it going? You telling me this waves because of you? The hell did you blow up?"

All the while, the great dragon had been pushing herself harder and harder with each fluid movement to catch up to the blasted wave, luckily now she was close enough to it to be caught up in the wash of it which made things a whole lot easier. It was basically carrying her along now, the real trouble at this point was keeping her balance not to get suddenly thrown to one side or something rather than to catch up with the damn thing. Yet as she scanned the wave above, she'd notice Zako raising to the top of the wave just before he went out of her sight. Aha! He thinks he can hide from her up there, huh? Not a chance! Jetting herself forward, Luna finally reached a position where she was ready to pounce.

"Ohhhh no. No explosions. Got something way better, watch!" Irvine makes a cutting motion in the air.
The wave suddenly comes crashing down...well, more like it suddenly retracts rapidly into the water. All of it except for the part the two are on, a small section of water that is now floating in the air, the very surface of the wave they were riding...hell, it's still acting like it's part of a wave.
"Got some friends to help me with this. Can keep this going a little longer, but I gotta give 'em a rest eventually."

With a mystified, if not slightly terrified expression. Zako would gasp as he looked around to find the wave beneath him all but disappear aside from the part the two were actually riding upon. "Yo! What the hell man. How's this even working! It's awesome!" Zako would laugh, clearly enjoying himself as he once again reached his hand down to feel the water between his fingers, partly cause he felt like he might lose his balance and partly to see if it was actually real water. "What friends do you mean...? I don't see anyone else around." The shark would say in mild confusion, turning all around to see if he could spot anyone before... "Except her! Watch out!"

Just as the wave came crashing down, Luna would find herself diving seem back under the water, still chasing after where the now floating wave was headed. HA! He thinks trickery like this would slow her down? Not a chance! With one fluid movement, the light red dragon would propel herself skyward from the depths, unfurling her wings to hang in the air and glide after the wave.



She'd cry out, shooting forth a high powered jet of water without taking much consideration as to what she was aiming at. Luna could see people up there so she knew it was Zako! If he wasn't gonna play fair, neither would she. The game was just to knock him off his board right? Well she could do that in more ways than just tackling him! As long as nothing occurred to stop it, her blast would hit its mark... Right into Irvine's back.

Irvine laughs. "What, you can't? There's a whole bunch of them keeping this thing up." He shrugs, turning his way. "Seriously though, I'd be more worried if you could see...well HEL-LO there!" Irvine follows Luna's ascent with a grin. "I'm guessing they're why you were - THE HELL!?" Irvine dives flat on the disc as the jet comes by, still getting splashed by it as it's narrowly diverted from striking him. He picks himself up, before looking up to the gliding dragon...

And grinning.


"Well, isn't this getting interesting..." It was a shame he didn't have the megaphone on him. That'd make it all so much better.
Ah, well...this'd have to do instead.
He tilts his head over to Zako. "Hey, buddy? You might wanna see this."
Irvine clears his throat.

He waves his hand dismissively.


And on cue, the wind kicks up quite specifically around Luna, forceful air currents blowing at her and constantly changing direction and moving as if they were alive.
Wasn't anything dangerous, of course...hell, if it looked like she was going to get injured, they'd catch her before she knew it.
But unless the poor subject of the winds happened to be an incredibly skilled flier (or in this case, gider), the pair were about to be witness to the amusing sight of a dragon being sent twirling through the air like a common paper bag.

The dragon would scowl slightly to herself as she noticed her target duck under her shot, though her annoyed look would turn more to one of slight confusion as she noticed the guy she'd shot at wasn't actually her friend at all... Though Zako was up there, a second guy was seemingly enjoying riding the waves too. Interesting. Though what Luna found to be more compelling was the fact the guy didn't seem to be bothered by the fact she'd just shot at him. If anything, the guy was egging her on to try it again. So her little game had increased its target count. Oohhhh, this should be fun!


Just as she was about to take aim, this time preparing herself to attack in a different style. Luna would be caught off guard by the sudden change in the winds around her. It'd take her a moment of being tossed about for her to re orientate her wings into a better position to catch less of the drag of the wind. Granted it didn't get rid of all the turbulence it was causing, but it at least let her look straight for the moment.

"Hahaha, ha... Eheh..." Zako would naturally find the situation amusing at first, though his laugh would slowly become more of a nervous chuckle by the end of it as he realized this was still a guy that he only just met. "Hey, uhm. She likes messing around but I warn you she can go a little over the top if you antagonize her. Just... Don't hurt her, please? She's a close friend of mine." The purple scaled shark would say to the guy with a slight look of worry in his eye. He'd be smiling calmly all the way, clearly seeing that it was more of a game at this point. He just, didn't want it to escalate past that.


The Great Dragon would grin, a small amount of steam trickling out of her nostrils. She wasn't at the stage where she wanted to boil this guy, though if she did hit she wanted him to know about it. In her time, she'd fought again a fair number of things, often times multiple little things at once rather than some big thing. Though that had allowed her to have plenty of practice in distributing her shot accordingly. The inaccuracy this wind was causing would mean nothing if she simply blasted the entire area! Firing her jets once again, the streams of water would almost seem representative of a shotgun blast. Each segment of water admittedly wasn't as impactful as when she shot it all in one force. Yet this shot she managed to shoot to hit all around where both Zako and this new guy were. Even if her aim was a little off, something had to hit. Right?

Irvine just shrugs emphatically at Zako's warning. "Had no plans to hurt her. Juuust wanted to mess around a little. Like so!" He gestures with one hand.
The wind suddenly stops.
He makes a circle in the air with his finger.
The wind comes back in full force, homing in on the bottom of Luna's left wing and the back of Luna's right, intent on sending her into a spin and then blowing her right back up if she actually ended up falling.
"And that's! How! You do it!" He stretches his arms out, before putting his hands behind his head, not even moving as the next spray comes in. "Don't let me down you guys. You know it's coming this time."
The water seems to part around the pair this time, right before the two's eyes, the combined work of the water itself moving and a veil of wind blowing it out of the way - not that it was necessarily obvious at the other end of the spray.

As the spray clears up, not a drop has touched the two.

Noticing a slight wobble under his feet, Irvine looks over to note that they've dropped a little down...he really couldn't make them keep going like this.
...well, only one thing to do.
He looks over to Zako, some of the edge taken off his grin. "Can't really afford to keep this up after this. They need a break. So...get ready."
Irvine steps to the centre of the disc, arms open wide.

The shark would nod to the guys response. Granted he was glad that the guy had no intentions to hurt Luna, though honestly he wasn't so much afraid she'd get hurt. He'd seen first hand how tough she could be, he didn't fear for her well being too badly even if he would still prefer her not to get hurt at all. In reality he just didn't want her to go off on one of her mad sprees where she sometimes went... A little over board with things. A game is just a game until someone takes it too far. "Oh she wont give up, if you're running out of steam to keep yourself protected from her. Then we're going to get knocked off of here sooner or later." Zako would say with a fanged grin, though the shark was still confused how this guy was pulling any of this off in the first place. "So how's your... Friends? Doing all this anyway?"

Indeed Luna was starting to get a little miffed with all this stupid wind. Her wings were quite small and all this pressure on them was beginning to strain her. Honestly she hadn't even really noticed why her attack hadn't hit its mark that time, but it was clear to see she had to take a different approach if she was going to get them for real this time.


The dragon would call out as she tucked herself up into a ball, furling up her wings and wrapping her tail around herself to lessen the effects the wind had on her as much as possible until she broke out of it and dived back for the water. Once under, Luna would orient herself so that she was swimming facing up towards to waters surface, taking in more water to fill her tanks and lining up her shot to bring her plan fully together. With adrenaline properly kicking in now, the reptilian creature would suddenly shoot forth a jet of water whilst still under the depths, not aiming for the pair but instead attempting to make a huge splash erupt from roughly the same distance back from the pair as she dived back in. The splash had quite a big radius and would raise high into the sky as if blocking sight of whatever was inside.

However this was but a distraction and once again with one fluid movement, Luna would instead push herself forward to dive out of the water not behind. But in front of the wave so that at the peak of her jump she was only around five meters away from the pair. Before she had even reached the peak of her jump, she had begun firing her jets without hesitation, keeping the spray up for longer than before. Hoping that even if this guy could somehow still block her shot, she'd outlast him in the end.

Irvine shakes his head. He seemed...strangely serious compared to earlier. "This isn't about getting hit. Couldn't really care so much about that, as long as we put on a good show. Nah...it's the wave we're on. That, I can't afford to let keep going. It's not fair on them." He sighs, and turns round to Zako. "For something like this, they have to directly work the water. The air. The stone. And it's a lot more taxing than the wave before was."
His ear perks as he hears Luna shout, and watches her plummet. He grins again, and turns back to his prior position with his arms out.


"I said she'd get off one more shot before I cut this short, and it looks like she's getting that shot off." He closes his eyes, and smiles. "And if you mean what you're saying...well, letting her hit me is as good a way to close this off as any." He lets out a quick laugh before nodding sideways to Zako. "Just don't tell 'er I let it happen."

This time, nothing happened to the shot. It was on Luna whether or not it'd hit.

"More of the entertainer sort than the competitive one, then? I can respect that." Zako'd reply, his more laid back and cheerful attitude returning to his voice. It wasn't as fun when he had to worry so much, he didn't enjoy doing it but when others were involved he just couldn't help it sometimes. "Dude, sounds like they've got a real tough job. Not that I really get how they're doing that, but still." Bending over to grab the side of his board with one hand, Zako would return the nod. "'Course." He'd never ruin something that made Luna happy anyway, so the guy had nothing to fear. For now, the shark would just prepare himself to lift up his board to block the incoming jet. It wouldn't stop him from falling, no. Though it meant he actually had a grip on his board and wouldn't lose it again like last time.

Perfect! Luna's distraction seemed to have worked perfectly as she leaped into the air from a completely separate place than the initial splash she caused. At this point she was so close and they were heading towards her that even if it did fail she could just tackle Zako off on the way. Her shot was aimed true and would blast forth a great deal of force both at Zako and whoever this new guy was. Again she kept this shot up a lot longer than the previous ones too just in case something did occur to stop the shorter shot. Yet nothing got in her way this time! She had completely caught them off guard. First blasting Zako whom despite defending himself with his board would go tumbling down the the oceans surface below before her shot drifted to hit the other guy off too.

"Sounds about right." Honestly, he was just after some harmless fun. Nothing that'd have any serious effects on things, nothing that would hurt people or ruin their day. Sure, he might freak people the hell out, but...messing with people was part of the fun, sometimes.
But now wasn't the time for that. Now, it was his turn to take a fall.
"Yeah, I really put 'em through the wringer with stunts like these. But it's fun for all of us. When you don't have many ways to interact with the world, it can make those moments you get to really touch your old plane of residence all the more worthwhile." He shrugs. "They're done with their living themselves, after all. Might as well get some meaning from other people's lives."

Irvine's gaze drifts back as he sees the shot coming. He said he was going to take the hit, and he was...but he had one last surprise in store.
He crouches down, and just about as the spray hits, he leaps from the platform. One last bit of help lets him take the shot well enough that he can carry on into a dive from it...as the stone platform he was standing from rockets down toward the water after he jumps from it, the floating wave the pair were riding falling from the sky with it.
With the impact of the stone disc comes a massive splashback, creating one last wall of water ready to come crashing down toward Luna.

All the while, Irvine has a wide, shit-eating grin on his face as he hits the water.
Let's see what she thinks of that.

"Heh..." If he was honest, Zako didn't fully understand what the guy was actually talking about. Mostly due to the fact he didn't really understand who these 'friends' even were any more than he did at the beginning of the conversation. Though he'd nod along as if he understood merely out of politeness. Yet one thing that did catch his attention... "Done living themselves...?" The shark would barely have time to question before he was heading for the depth below with his board in hand. All things considered he seemed to make a fairly well entered dive as if he was used to being suddenly blasted off things. Which quite frankly he was at this point, before resurfacing and leaning again his board.

Meanwhile in the air, Luna would throw a fist upwards, cheering for herself as she claimed victory! "Aha! Howz you like that onez?" She'd smirk smugly, unaware of the sudden wall of water that reached up and swallowed her down back from her gliding spot and forcing her to dive back to the ocean herself. "Bwpha!" She'd exclaim as she too resurfaced and looked around for the others. "Ya knowz, using water against the Sea Queenz isn't a greatz way to deal damage!" The dragon would continue to brag despite the wave wall having done its job of knocking her out the air. "You okayz Zako? ... And, uhz... Whoeverz you are?" Not that she cared at all about the other guy herself, though if they were a friend of Zako she'd at least attempt to be nice to them.

As Irvine resurfaces, he doesn't seem too much in need of air. He's taking deeper breaths than normal, but there's no great gasp or anything as his head breaks the water's surface either. He looks around, only to break out in a laugh as he hears Luna's reaction to being caught in the splash he created. "Spirits encircling, she calls herself the Sea Queen...! That's adorable." And so very easy to take the piss out of.

"Juuuust fine, squirt!" He rises up out of the water as the disc he was on finds its way underneath him, much to his pleasure...and a little to his surprise, but no matter. No point wasting the opportunity.


He lets his legs dangle over the side into the water as he takes a seat on the edge. "Wait! No. Sea Queen Squirt." He nods in a pantomime of satisfaction. "Theeere we go. That's right. Anyway - who said anything about hurting you? Getting you with that's good enough for me." He turns his gaze off of Luna, looking out across the waters. So, that guy's name was...
"HEY! ZAKO! BUDDY!" He pats the space beside him on the disc. "GOT A SEAT FOR YA!"