DoomPet

Chapter 8

After the marauder left the bathroom and the Slayer finished bathing, he led the demon to a part of the fortress he had never seen before. It was a large room with a rectangular pool in the center of it. Everything was made from thick smooth stone and metal with seams that fit together almost perfectly. It was elegant, and it was sentinel.

The marauder was amazed at the pool; he had never seen so much clear water in decades. A strange sharp scent lingered in the air. He held his hand up to his face, slightly afraid to breathe it in.

The Slayer tilted his head at the demon's odd behavior and pointed up to Vega's speakers, who immediately chimed in, "You're smelling chlorine. Don't worry it's mostly harmless. I take care of the pool and everything is at its proper levels."

"Oh... ok..." The marauder removed his hand from his face and glanced down fearfully at the water. "So, how do you swim?"

Doomguy just chuckled, and fished a pair of swim trunks and a shirt out of a pool storage cabinet, and threw them at the demon.

He caught it, carefully holding the swim trunks and shirt in his hands. The thin fabric was much unlike his traditional heavy duty armor plating.

Vega chimed down once more, "There is a door to your right you can get dressed in there." The marauder nodded and headed inside, quickly changing out of his armor and into the swim trunks. The fabric had an odd feeling to it and was a dark grey color. He felt slightly exposed without armor, having only thin fabric to protect him. He was especially grateful for the shirt to cover his various scars. The shorts were a little bit too tight around his thighs due to the size difference between himself and the Slayer, but the shirt fit fine. 

He stepped outside and looked around. Doomguy wasn't anywhere to be found. "Hey?" He walked over to the edge of the pool and peered down into the water, worried that he might have fallen into the mysterious liquid. "Where did you go?" There was a semicircle of stairs that led out of the water so the man would have been able to get out if he fell in, right? He heard the sound of sprinting footsteps behind him but before he could turn to look two strong, muscular hands were shoving him into the water.

Thank god the water was heated and not cold. He let out a shriek and he fell into the water and immediately got his footing, since the water was only four foot deep compared to his seven and a half foot tall height.

He whirled around and grabbed Doomguy's upper legs, yanking him forwards into the pool. "You bastard! I can't believe you pushed me!" He joked and wiped some water off his face from the Slayer's splash down.

Vega's voice sounded happy. He enjoyed seeing the Slayer acting playful, "I tried to talk him out of it."

The Slayer nodded happily and kicked up his feet to float on his back. He had his helmet on and a light blue pair swim trunks with little yellow palm tree designs on them without a shirt.

The marauder immediately attempted the same but sank like a rock as soon as his feet weren't touching the bottom. He completely forgot how to swim, hell, he almost forgot standing water existed. He had vague flickering memories from his time as a sentinel swimming in the creeks in the valleys around Taras Nabad.

Daisy stuck her head through the door into the pool room, and cautiously approached the Slayer. The smell of blood no longer lingered in the air around him, like an omen of death, and she calmed down. The chlorine was a slightly strange scent, it smelt sharp on her sensitive nose and she licked at the air a few times.

Noticing her, the marauder gently splashed the surface of the water with his hands, "Come here Daisy!"

Daisy scurried over, her wings fluttering, and poked the water with her blade. She whined and walked around the pool trying to find a way to get to the two without getting herself wet. The Slayer swam over to the side and began petting her head. She clicked and chirred, pleased.