Sea Witch🔱 UNDER EDIT

IX

I am tackled by one of them and hit the ground with a crash.

"Captain!" Syks yells, gaining the attention of the rest of the group.

I struggle against the creature, pushing their sharp teeth away from my face as they forced their way to bite me.

"Protect the scientists!" I yell, punching the creature in the face, stunning it long enough to get some distance.

Power swells within me as I launch spears of water at the creature, killing it in one blow.

I look behind me to see the rest of the monsters dispatched by my team.

"Well, that was fun..." Khaleid says sarcastically as he shoulders his gun.

"More of a reason we should hurry and use our time wisely."

Nara says as she holds her spear.

"Wow, that was...." Cyril pants out as he pushes past the adrenaline.

"... Exhilarating! I've never seen one up close before! We should take the bodies back !"

I chuckle at his enthusiasm. Luckily we were able to kill off the group before they did any real damage.

"His Majesty was right to assign you all! That was extraordinary, unbelievable,  stu-"

He pauses, shocked as he stares at something behind us. A shadow is cast from behind us, and we turn to see the body of a Trench creature. However, this one was different.

Its body was decayed, floating above the Trench as a plastic bag floated with it, wrapped around its neck.

I look around at the bodies of the creatures that we slew, closely this time. A translucent film floated from their arms and legs, small pieces of plastic could be seen caught in between their claws and fangs.

"It seems the pollution is worse than we thought." Cyril comments. "Of course, it's made its way to the trench."

"This is why the tremors are happening? Cause it's killing off the creatures?"

Amara gestures to the floating, decayed corpse.

"It could be a large part of the problem, yes. We'll need to run more tests to be sure."

"Well, that's good news then. Right?" Syks asks worriedly.

A researcher speaks up. "Well, yes. But, if the pollution is as bad as we theorize, then we'd have a whole new project to work on."

"Okay, then what do we have to do?" Khaleid asks the researcher.

"Surveillance. We'll have to lower a device into the trench to see just how bad this has become."

The rest of the scientists head over to ready their surveillance systems. Cyril seems uncharacteristically silent, but snaps out of it and onto work.

"If the situation is as bad as we think it is, then I have just the solution."

"Really? So soon?"

I asked, shocked and impressed to hear that he already has a plan.

"The king asked us before the Ocean Cleaning Initiative to create a way to clear out some pollution. We started working on a bacterium able to break down plastic. That project was scrapped, but we were close to completing it."

"Wow, looks like you have your work cut out for you."

"Thank you, Dame Caerulius. Now, we have some work to do."

It was like Cyril became a completely different person. He became focused on his work and nothing else. It was really something to admire.

My team remained alert, making sure to take out any unwanted guests. Eventually, the scientists gained enough footage of the trench before the equipment is destroyed.