[GrayGriffin]

The trio of aquatic creatures felt the glow around them fade, and looked around, blinking slowly. It seemed that they were still underwater, but held in an air bubble of some sort. Arion was the only one who could float above the ground, leaving both Akegane and Natasha lying their awkwardly. They blinked, looking around and trying to get their bearings.

"Oh, you're all aquatic creatures after all!" exclaimed a voice. Looking up, they saw the one who had summoned them.

[GrayGriffin]

"I suppose I overprepared after all!" it exclaimed in a bright and cheerful voice, floating above the ground in a similar manner to Arion. Its voice sounded masculine, at least, but that was no guarantee when dealing with semi-deities. It moved closer to them, coils undulating as it circled them and took them in.

"But I guess it's better to be overprepared than underprepared! You can all breathe water, right?"

All three of them stared and blinked.

"Right?" it asked again, leaning in even closer.

"Um, y-yeah!" exclaimed Natasha.

[GrayGriffin]

"Oh, good!" it said, tail flicking back and forth happily. "So I guess I can let this go-wait, then the tablecloth will get wet...oh, I know!"

It lifted its head, the orbs floating around it beginning to glow, and the water rushed in around them, before stopping at the very edge of...a table? There really was a table.

"I know who you are," muttered Akegane-sama, flicking her tail as she rose up in the water. "You're the guardian deity of this ocean, aren't you? How did you obtain that table?"

"If-if you think I'm neglecting my duties, you're wrong!" it replied. "I-I've been developing my powers, so that I could create a doppelganger for myself. I sent it to procure what we'd need for this party!"

"Party?" asked Natasha, head tilted to one side. She sounded almost excited about it.

[GrayGriffin]

"Yes, a party! You heard my call, right?"

"You've been...alone all this time?" asked Arion. Despite the rather rude way they'd been dragged here, he couldn't help but start feeling the stirrings of sympathy.

"He has," said Akegane-sama, swimming closer to look the giant serpent in the eye. To their surprise, he actually shrank away from her slightly. "I had hoped that there would be at least one of you who would not succumb to the curse of loneliness. But I suppose it is the price that must be paid to ensure you have the capability to care for mortals in the first place."

[GrayGriffin]

"You know of me?" asked the serpent, staring at her with something like awe. "Who-who are you?"

Akegane-sama chuckled. "Simply one who has lived long and learned much. I certainly don't have any actual authority to punish you for this, though I also disapprove quite heavily of your actions here."

"I was careful about it!" the deity exclaimed in reply. "It was only supposed to summon someone who would be willing to come and who wouldn't cause trouble by learning about me!"

"Rewhister," said Akegane-sama slowly, "you may be old, but you still have much to learn."

[GrayGriffin]

"It's true!" added Natasha, swimming up to Rewhister's other side. "Yeah, when I realized what was going on I wanted to help you, but that doesn't mean I wanted to be dragged instantly over here! It'd be way more polite if your message allowed us to respond so we could actually talk properly!" She reached out to pat his snout, which made him flinch back in surprise. "But it's okay! You'll do better next time, right?"

"Next time?" asked Rewhister and Akegane-sama simultaneously.

[GrayGriffin]

"Yeah, next time!" exclaimed Natasha. "Come on, we can't just leave him all alone like this! I was already going to say I would come and visit if he hadn't dragged us here right away! And he did prepare all this!"

Indeed, taking another look at the table, there were various snacks set up, with small cups of tea and everything.

"We can't just let it go to waste!" objected the mermaid girl. "As long as he learns to ask nicely next time, it'll be fine, right?"

"...you wish to stay?" asked Rewhister softly. "I...I was going to just return you, if that was what you wanted so dearly..."

[GrayGriffin]

"Sherlock and Lorisa are still back on the shore, though!" exclaimed Arion. "What if they get worried about us?"

"If they dive down, I can probably summon th-"

"No." Akegane-sama's voice was very firm on that last part. "Besides, none of them are very good swimmers in the first place."

"Release them!" came a loud cry. In a flash of light, three more figures appeared, surrounded by their own air bubble-which popped almost instantly. Rewhister let out a cry of alarm and waved his claws, quickly summoning another bubble to surround them.

"Oh, nevermind!" exclaimed Natasha happily. "Now we're all here together!"

[GrayGriffin]

"Wh-what's going on?" Sherlock was sputtering, out of a combination of confusion and having swallowed some water after the popping of his bubble.

"The pressure down here is deeper," noted Akegane-sama with a critical eye. "Your bubble was not prepared for the force it could exert."

"Yeah, we'll be more careful next t-wait a minute!" exclaimed Lorisa. She started fluttering in Arion's direction, the bubble drifting along and dragging the other two detectives along with her. "Why are you all so calm about this? We saw you get abducted!"

"The abductor is the guardian of this ocean, an-I must confess-lonely and thankless job," explained Akegane-sama. "He wished to simply have a party of sorts, with friends. He even prepared a table for the occasion." She gestured at said table, which thankfully remained intact.

[GrayGriffin]

"Don't worry," added Natasha, "we all already yelled at him about the kidnapping part! But now he knows to ask nicely and wait for a response instead. And we can still be his friends!"

"Wait a minute, I still didn't agree to this!" exclaimed Arion. Lorisa fluttered even closer to him, until he just swam his way into her air bubble.

"I think he's even lonelier than both you and I were," she noted. "We can indulge him for a bit, can't we?"

Arion sighed. "Alright, if you're fine with it, than so am I."

And so, with a bit more rejiggering, the group sat down at the table, to share a few snacks and slowly discuss the entire situation they had found themselves in. This wasn't over, not by a long shot, but eventually they were sure to find a certain harmony among themselves.

And maybe at last, the lonesome guardian would be lonesome no more.

[Wild Pet Found]