Portal to Atlantis

"I'll head to the marine observatory myself," Zackson said, "Blaze, complete your mission without fail." Blaze nodded and walked out of the room.

"Sir," Ruby addressed Zackson, "don't you think that other things require more priority than your collection."

"If you don't like it, the door's right there," he responded, adjusting his gaze to the double door leading outside.

"No, it's not that," she corrected, "I just believe that you spend too much energy on them when other things could get done."

"Don't *you* think you spend a lot of energy monitoring me," he argued.

"Where is this coming from?" She was startled by his retaliation.

"I've noticed you following me around whenever I'm not here."

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said, covering her guilty face with her hands.

"You've done it when I take walks in the park, when I eat, and even when I'm enjoying a bath. Does your behavior hold no morals."

"I'm sorry sir," She began to tear up, "I just wanted to make sure you were safe, you never know what could happen."

"I can take care of myself," he said, getting up, walking to the door, "and if you believe I spend too much energy, then you can be responsible for cleaning them." He left the room and headed to the marine observatory.

"Aw," Ruby expressed in disappointment, "My fake crying didn't get him, but I'll still win in the end."

Mr. Zackson entered the marine observatory, "Oh, Mr. Zackson, you're here," said Nikolai.

"I heard the good news."

"Ah, yes," he said, moving over to a whiteboard that contained notes about the portals in the area, "the green portal appeared over a day ago, and it seems that it naturally deter organisms from its location."

"Get a miniature submarine ready, this mission will not be disclosed, I'll have the 4 reserves and Luna ready right away. I expect this to begin in the next hour." He left the observatory before Nikolai could even get another word out.

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Over in the boy's changing rooms next to the pool, "Max, what's that on your back," Joseph pointed out.

"That is a strange design," Tiresias followed up, "never seen it before." We all paused and looked at him confused by his comment, he noticed the silence, "Guy's it was a joke, I'm still blind," he said moving his hand up and down his face."

"Right," I responded with a giggle. "It's kinda like a tattoo," I paused, "but it's used to... control people."

"I see," Joseph said in a low, commanding voice with his hand on his chin as if he had just finished doing detective work, "So your a slave master."

"No, No, don't misunderstand, um, I'm kinda the one who is being controlled," I slowly said, attempting to lessen the impact. Although my attempt fell on deft ears. As they began laughing as soon as the words came out of my mouth.

"Hold up, so you're saying you're a playable character," Joseph continued.

"No, I'm not apart of an RPG," I said, putting on my swim trunks.

"Who has the controller, man," he said in his best Italian accent.

"It's not fucking funny," I said, changing to a serious tone.

"Alright," Jacob chimed in still giggling, "Let's stop with the jokes, and how did you get that on you back," I explained the story with the Elves and how they didn't trust me which led to the event of me getting the mark on my back.

"So you guys have a femdom thing going on," Tiresias said.

"NO. It's not like that," I corrected, "I'm still in control of myself, and Stella would never force me to do something I wouldn't want to."

"OOOOH," Joseph expressed, rubbing his hands all over his body, "Max has a fetish."

"As I said, It's not like that," I responded, annoyed, walking out of the changing room.

"Now, just where am I suppose to find this Max guy," Blaze complained, standing on the platform that overviewed the pool area. "What," he said, looking at Max, exiting the changing room, "No way. Is that him." He pulled the picture given to him, comparing the face on the photo and Max's. "That's him," he said in excitement, "my luck must be amazing, it looks like he's going to swim. Hmm, I am wearing shorts under this. I'll join him," he grinned, striping to his shorts and displaced his clothes back into his room, then jumps from the platform down to the pool area.

'We're being watched,' Rose warned me, 'to your left.' I turned to see a spiky, blonde-haired, white boy wearing shorts land on the ground from what seemed like a 9-meter high balcony.

"The name's Blaze," he said, lifting his head, revealing his pure sapphire eyes.

A bit surprised by his introduction, I stepped back, "My name's Max."

"Nice to meet you, Max," He replied, standing straight, offering a handshake."

"Nice to meet you too," I said, taking his offer, noticing that he was at least 3 inches taller than me.

"So why did you come down from that platform up there," I said, pointing to where he jumped from.

"I saw you were all alone," he justified, "and I was just about to go for a swim myself, so I thought I'd join ya." His response was believable being dressed with only shorts on, and I'm guessing that him looking at me is what gave Rose the impression that we were being watched.

"Sure, but I'm not alone," I corrected him, "my friends are in the changing room. But I don't mind getting in the pool first," I said, turning and walking to the pool.

"Nice tattoo," he pointed out.

"It's a plot device," I reluctantly said, "although I don't like it."

The t-shape tattoo the spread across Max's back made Blaze feel concerned, and only furthered the question of just why did Mr. Zackson want to know more about this guy. He made a mental note of it and followed Max into the pool "Max, you wouldn't happen to be one of the 12 that had just gotten back from the orange portal that appeared yesterday?"

"How did you know?"

"Well," he explained, "you're here while most during this time would be training in their respective facilities, so I'm guessing you got some time off."

"If most are training, then why are you here?" I questioned.

"I'm not training because I'm an A-"

"Who's the blonde," Jacob interrupted as he came out of the changing room with Joseph, Tiresias, and Besute behind him.

"Sup, I'm Blaze," He confidently responded, turning to look at Jacob. They gave their introductions and brought up the trip to the other side explaining each of their perspectives in detail all the while Joseph splashed water in Tiresias' face, taking advantage of his blindness, at random points during his explanation.

After we finished telling the story, I heard the sound of a door opening and closing, followed by the sound of feminine giggles. Turning around, I saw all 7 of the girls walking towards the pool talking with each other, and the only thing I could say was, "Now this is our beach episode."

"Our beach episode?" Blaze repeated, confused by my comment.

"Shh," I expressed, turning to him, putting my index finger over my lips and sharpening my eyes. "Just look," I continued, turning back to the girls, "all the eye candy we could ever want, served to us on a platter."

"Hey, who's the new guy," Athena pointed out.

"I'm Blaze," He said, now the center of attention.

"That's a unique name," she continued.

"Do you know anyone here," Stella chimed in.

"Yeah," he confirmed, "the 6 of us just became friends before you all got here." Stella laughed and shrugged it off, getting into the pool along with the majority of the girls, except for Emily and Raquel.

"You're not getting in," Hestia asked Emily.

"I'm not good at swimming," she nervously responded.

"I can show you how to swim," she continued, putting on a reassuring smile, "we'll practice in the shallow area."

"Fine," she said, giving in, "but just don't laugh at me."

"I promise I won't."

"Hey, Athena, I didn't know you were this tone," I said, commenting on her lean body figure.

"What, you like what see," She asked, striking a pose.

"It's gonna be a yes from me," I jokingly said, making myself laugh in the process.

"Oh, really," Stella said, joining our conversation. "Max," she struck a pose, "what do you think of me."

"I reframe from making comments on minors," I deliberately said, redirecting my view to somewhere else.

"I'm not a minor," she argued, grabbing both my arms, shaking me back and forth in an attempt to get me to look at her, "I'm 20, clearly over 18, and you made a comment on Athena who is still 17."

"That's if you were human," I turned, replying in a tone you would use on a baby, ignoring her comment on Athena's age. "But a little Elf like you still has some growing to do, okay," I continued as I comforted her by patting her hair almost in a sign of pity.

"Well, if you still think I'm a child," she changed her poster into a more shy and closed one as she looked down, only to then look back up with an adorable expression on her face, "then can I call you daddy." She's playing with me again, I thought, followed by Athena hysterically laughing at Stella proposition.

"Alright, this conversation is over," I said, swimming away, joining Tiresias and some of the others in a game of Marko Polo. But as I swam away, the image of Stella's adorable face still lingered in my memory. Man, that was cute, I thought to myself.

'So minors do it for you, huh,' Rose thought in my head.

'STFU,' I commanded him, 'I only thought it was cute, that's all.'

"You' enjoying the sun, Raquel," Joseph asked, resting his shoulders on the edge of the pool.

"I do want to tan for a bit," she replied, walking over to a ledge pool lounger.

"Don't be too long," he finished saying, swimming over to the pool game.

"MARKO," Tiresias softly yelled.

"POLO," we responded.

"MMM," he expressed, in a masculine tone, "I can smell you," followed by him trying to catch air.

"Gezz," Besute replied to his comment, "Don't make it weird," as he continued to swim away from him. It was weird that he was having trouble locating us by using sound, his primary sense, I thought. Was there someone messing with the sound waves.

"Hold on, why do I feel like you guys are cheating," he argued, casting a spell called, "Proximity detection... Alright, now, MARKO."

"POLO."

"Who's messing with the voice location!" he questioned, "your physical and vocal locations are not the adding up." The rest of us were confused by his comment as we didn't notice any change in where our voices were coming from, but the fact that he mentioned a difference in both sound and physical location means someone is affecting them. Could it be Blaze or someone else?

Looks like I've been found out, Blaze thought. Well, I've had my fun, I better stop before they become more suspicious. He deactivated his power and began to swim towards the edge of the pool.

"Let's try this again," Tiresias continued in a commanding tone, "MARKO."

"POLO."

Tiresias checked again if the voice and physical positions matched, finding they were not longer altered, "Much better now."

"Okay!" Joseph nagged, "now turn off your spell, or you'll be the one that's cheating."

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Mr. Zackson walked back into the observatory, followed by the 4 A-ranked reserves he mentioned earlier along with Luna. "Nikolai, is everything ready?"

"Yes sir," he confirmed, "the sub is ready, waiting out on the port."

"The 4 of you enter the submarine," Zackson commanded, "Luna, you stay here and help with water redirection on the submarine." Out on the port, the 4 reserves quickly entered the vessel with a message for Zackson, "if it starts to get dangerous priorities your lives first and the object second."

They set off to the green portal approximately 50 meters below sea level with the help of Luna, redirecting the outward motion of water caused by the magnetic field around the gate.