Unexpected Visitor

"Yeah, I'll sell it." Rain says confidently, satisfied with the amount of shells not to forget the immense advertisement this will give him.

"You won't regret it kid, you're going to be the talk of the town. Keep your eyes peeled, our next issue will be out in 3 days. For now he's your payment. Thanks again for selling it to us." Erin says her tail fin flutters about in excitement.

"This is really good Rain, you already have a decent chunk of shells to work with." Serena says already enamoured by the shells Rain has gained.

"Here you go." Rain says handing over one of the two bags filled with shells.

"Rain what are you doing!?" Serena says sending a light chop to the top of Rain's head.

"Were partners aren't we? So we split everything fairly." Rain says managing to avoid Serena's chop, his reflexes working off second nature.

"Not this time Rain i appreciate it but you're going to need this more than I will. You still need to find a tutor. Keep it, trust me." Serena says with a sigh of bubbles grateful but annoyed over Rain's blind generosity.

"Alright but next time we are splitting things fairly." Rain says, trying to hide his pouting face. 

"Alright. You're a stubborn one, Rain but thank you." Serena says, rubbing a tentacle to her head.

"I'm the stubborn one?" Rain says.

"You're both as stubborn as each other, no wonder your partners." Erin chuckles to herself hiding her laugh with her hand. 

"I thought that was obvious." Melvin calls out, filing away in the back of the news office.

"Ouch." Serena says feeling the burn.

"They're not wrong though." Rain says with a chuckle. 

"Don't agree with her Rain." Serena calls out, forming a fist about to slam down on Rain's head.

*Grumble*

"What was that!?" Serena asks, a little mortified by the sound. 

"Sorry I haven't managed to have a good meal for a little bit so my stomach is upset with me."

"That was you?" Serena says, her eyes wide in shock. 

"I know a good place for a newcomer like you. It's got a decent rate on shells too. For today, call it my treat for the story you gave me." Erin says still trying to stifle back her laughter and remain professional.

"Oh you don't have to." Rain says reflexively being modest. 

"I want to kid, don't be so stubborn like Serena. The abyssal pearl has been more of pain in the fins then you realise so anyone who is willing to stand up against them is a friend in my book." Erin says already holding the door to the news office ushering the whole group outside.

"See i'm not as stubborn! What do you have in mind?" Rain says swimming over only to get his tail grabbed and rotated by Serena disorientating him as she blows a raspberry at him.

"Have you had fried squid before?" Erin says already back to giggling.

"Wasn't really a seafood guy when I was human but I'll eat anything right now." Rain says managing to get to his fins being the last one out of the news office.

"Good you'll love this." Erin says swimming along the lit up paths guiding the group to her favourite restaurant."

"Follow me." She calls out, already outpacing even Melvin. Before slowing down noticing how far behind Rain already is.

"You're not very good at swimming are you? Well it's understandable since you only woke up recently it's surprising you're adept at combat but not swimming of all things." Erin says a little in disbelief to see a mer struggle to swim a definite black sheep.

"Yeah I've never been good at it, nearly drowned in my highschool pool." Rain says letting out an awkward laugh. Already wiping back the fins on his head out of nervousness. 

"Wow i never had an issue with it, after I woke up it all came so naturally to me. Then again I was pretty good at swimming in college." Erin says still having to tone down her swimming pace to not leave Rain in the bubbles.

"I'm the first one he meets and I can definitely tell you he sucks at swimming." Serena says, teasing rain as he struggles to keep up with the group. 

"I'm not that bad!" Rain scowls rolling his eyes as he does a doggy paddle of sorts somehow managing to increase his pace a little.

"Rain, let's be real, you would struggle in open waters." Serena says with a face of disapproval seeing rains awful attempt at swimming. 

"Yeah…yeah." Rain says, looking down at himself, before realising how dumb he looks."

"Were here you two. I'll be covering everyone's meal today and call it my treat, go wild." Erin says, fluttering her tailfin gracefully as she arrives at the entrance of the repurposed building.

"Really! I'm normally so stingy with my meals thank you Erin, I couldn't eat any more stray fish." Serena says her eyes rolling up at the thought of all the delicious food she can stuff herself with for once. 

"They're not that bad Serena, I find them quite tasty." Rain says, not having a developed palette whatsoever finding stray trash fish delicious.

"You ate a fishman, I'm sure you would eat anything, maybe even an engine if given the chance." Serena says with a scowl.

"What!? You actually ate one of them. I've never heard of a merman who eats fishman most aren't able to get over their morality." Erin says her eyes going wide in shock, almost becoming a normal occurrence for her at this point.

"It was kill or be killed and either I eat him or the stray fish will pick him clean." Rain explains solemnly not regretting the actions he had to take and the meal he devoured, all of it ended up keeping him alive to an extent.

"Welcome to Sea Tides, it's a great restaurant. I normally come here all the time during down times at the news office." Erin explains seeing the bright coloured art churning sea waves.

"Wow you even converted the old bargain grocery store." Rain comments remembering coming here all the time for cheap snacks.

"You've seen this place before?" Erin asks, getting more and more surprises the longer she stays with Rain.

"Yeah it's a little jarring, the reef is situated right in the neighbourhood I lived in when I was human." Rain explains glancing over the repurposed buildings seeing some of the old characteristics of the old bargain grocery store. 

"It was a grocery store? Here I thought it was a school damn I lost that bet then." Erin says jokingly.

"What the hell is that!?" One of the merfolk call out from the park area of the reef looking up to the surface seeing a silhouette blocking the usual sunrays.

"It doesn't look like a fishman or merfolk, i dont see any fins whatsoever." Another mer comments.

"Is that a human how the hell did he sink this far down?" A fishman calls out scowling that such an inferior creature made his way down here.

"A human? Poor soul he's pretty much good as dead at this depth there's even our fastest swimmers won't be able to help from the pressure change." Erin says with a hint of sorrow knowing full well theres nothing she can do.

"There's a human!?" Rain says in total shock, a human down here of all places the remnants of his humanity scream out to meet one of his old kind maybe even getting some answers of the state of the world right now.

"Yeah he's going to be cleaned up soon he's at the centre of the reef near the park." Erin explain already knowing the process if something like this happens 

"Cleaned up, is there really nothing we can do at all?" Rain says shocked already, forcing his body to swim faster despite the struggle.

"I'm sorry kid but there's nothing we can do for him at this point." Erin says looking down solemnly. 

"We can at least try!" Rain roars out clawing his way through the waters to get to the sinking human.

"Be my guest but it wont go the way you think." Erin says solemnly.

'He managed to swim a little faster there. Looks like when he has a goal he can really push himself.' Erin says, her mind already analysing Rain.

"Remember that feeling, remember it, it saved me before surely it can help again." Rain says remembering the surge of heat and power that climbed through his wall body when he first used magic.

"Wait, what are you doing!?" Erin call out seeing the bright white glow slowly emit out of Rain.

"This kid actually has a mana foundation!?" Erin realisescompletely stunned in the process.

[Magic Activated]

"It worked! Hold on man, I'll do what I can, I won't let you be doomed to your fate." Rain says, flashbacks flood into his mind as he remembers everyone else the sea claimed, determined to not let this one be claimed at the very least.

Determination and willpower drive Rain's intention leading his magic to form a thick bubble full of air. In the same motion Rain put the bubble of air over the man's mouth. The bubble seals around the man's mouth, nose and eyes allowing him to finally get a breath of oxygen.

[Magic Skill Created]

[Bubble breather-5 mana using your mana valiantly, you have invented a new skill that greatly aids air breathers. The breather allows for water to be filtered out whilst providing oxygen. The oxygen in the bubble will last 24 hours with longer times needing more mana. The bubble has decent durability but will burst if pierced]

"I'm surprised you can even use your mana foundation kid but sadly his lungs are full of water. It was a valiant attempt though." Erin says still stunned and impressed by Rain.

"Not yet, the bubble won't break that easily. It saved me from a fatal blow already." Rain says having full faith in the magic that already saved his life.