Chapter 53 - Secret Revealed, And Hissing
I left Jilly alone and dropped the talk of Lizy, but we were getting close to the waterfall now. I could hear the dull roar of the water get louder until we walked out into the clearing.
The water was misting from the falls, and I walked over to the pool of water with the girls. As we approached, a shape rose out of the water in the form of a little old wizard.
"So, you did come and brought the girls with you; does that mean you are ready to sweat?" Wataluga asked me as he stepped out onto the grass.
"I hope your training is more than laughing me into submission; we already had that one," I said with a smile, and the old watery wizard smiled back at me, but then he started to expand.
"No jokes, but this will be harder than the hand-holding Grogvel does. I am just going to have you run today, and then tomorrow we\'ll start the fighting," Wataluga said as his body rapidly expanded to cover us up to our necks and fill the clearing with his watery body.
"I want you all to start running laps, and I will say when to stop," Watalugu said from the center of the clearing where he rose up.
This was weird; I had never been in floating water, and it was floating off the ground in the middle of my calves. Then I noticed that something was missing, and I felt around my waist; Mary was gone.
"Where did Mary go?" I asked, looking around at the other smiling and bobbing heads.
The water was somehow able to climb three-meter up to Jilly\'s neck, but then only covered Nushi\'s neck as well, and she was half the height of Jilly.
"I am right, heresss!" Mary said from behind me, and I whirled around to find her head bobbing above their water.
[Monster Girl Secret: Mary]: Mary is part Mermaid, and she has many sisters.
[New Skill: Mary]: {Water Manipulation}- Control and shape water at will.
I closed the tab in shock and then looked down into the water, and sure enough, Mary was now a fish. I feel like I should be more surprised that she is a mermaid, but I had never really given it much thought.
"Yes, there you are, and your tail looks really good on you," I said, but then found myself being drawn towards Mary, and she was reaching out from me.
I was more than willing to take her into my arms, but the moment I was about to embrace her, we were ripped apart.
"Alright, kids, go hump in the bush on their own time. Not in my body! Now, get running, or I make the water like mud to run in right off the start!" Wataluga warned, and we all started to jog.
I started to run, and Mary and the girls all started to jog with me. The Cerberus girls were bobbing along, and Nushi was running with them.
Mary was swimming beside Jilly as she scuttled along, and she looked like she was enjoying herself. Jilly had been uncharacteristically quiet since I had brought up the Magma Spider.
I might have to try and talk to her alone after this to find out what really happened between the two. Maybe it would be better to just ask Nushi instead of antagonizing Jilly more.
Jilly eating the whole rabbit had made it clear that I had touched on a very sore subject. It all was a reminder that Jilly was a ravenous man-eating creature, and I would have to be careful with her.
It was really lovely and refreshing, but extremely weird. The water didn\'t touch my skin the way water should; it was more like the water was just holding on to me.
Instead of getting a wet feeling from the water, it was more like a cool gel being pressed against my skin. As we jogged, I could slowly feel the water start to press in on me more, and I was starting to sweat, but when I tried to dunk my head into the water, I almost broke my nose.
"Don\'t try to stick that sweaty face into me! You have four more laps, and then you can go take a dip in the actual water!" Wataluga said, laughing as I rubbed my face and then continued running.
The last four laps gave a total of twenty laps around the clearing, and there weren\'t more than a two hundred meter jog, but those last two laps.
The second last one was exactly what I would expect it to feel like running through mud. The last one was a fish of a different color; the water became like rocks and crushed my body, but I kept going until I was done.
"Hmmm, I will have to say that I am not unimpressed with you. Tomorrow we will start the fighting training, but today I needed to get my body used to the pressure that it will be under tomorrow. Go have a quick dip, but then I suggest you all make haste; the sun has started its trip back into the great beyond," Wataluga said as all the water from the clearing drained back into him impossibly.
"Thank you," I said, and rolled my shoulders, and then did a small stretch.
That was a body pounding, but I also felt lighter than I had before, so I wanted to try something. I bent my knees and then jumped almost two meters in the air.
I almost didn\'t stick the landing. I was so shocked, but I was able to catch myself. I could make it in the NBA with this kind of air time!
"Comesss in the watersss, Kazzisss...KAZZ!" Mary called to me cutely from the water she had already climbed into, trying to spit my name out.
"No, you heard the old man! We need to get going before it gets dark," Jilly said in a no nonsensical tone.
"Aunty! Isss just wanted to play with himsss!" Mary hissed and then did some spins in the water.
"No, you can play with him tonight when we are safe. Now, get out of the water!" Jilly hissed back at Mary, and Mary rolled her stoned eyes.