Rebecca Split (Sparks will fly)

Let's get ready to rumble

Although she did not know exactly where the hotel was in relation to where she had been, Ranga realised that she couldn't have travelled too far. Across to her left she could still see the Whales dancing in the surf, but although further from her around the coastline, they seemed much closer to the shore, and their games appeared to have taken on a more intense, less playful appearance. The lead whales had turned and seemed to be moving toward the very place where she now stood, and the screaming distress call, even through her coconut earplugs was so loud that she had to fight the noise just to concentrate.

She looked around the area. She was at the back of the hotel on a large decking which held a full panoramic view along the side of the Island and out to sea. There were overspill tables from the restaurant that stood inside the ranch doors along the building side of the decking and the doors were open, both to allow the sun in and the guests out. Beyond the tables and through into the hotel proper, she could see the large breakfast buffet display that had been prepared for the imminent arrival of the hotel guests. There were one or two tables that had already been used, probably by those that had gone down to view the whales, but the vast majority were still freshly lain. Even on a vacation it was still yet early.

A couple of staff members busied themselves around the buffet table and in and out of a staff entrance against the farthest wall, but other than them, there was little sign of active life.

Ranga moved to the decking rail that overlooked the ocean and it was there that she noticed that the structure was in fact set on two tiers. The upper one, on which she stood, which gave access to the bar and dining areas of the hotel, and a second, larger area, which sprawled out below her. It was a full ornate decking, liberally furnished with outdoor tables, the customary branded parasols, rigid looking wooden chairs and sun loungers. The whole furniture ensemble lay neatly dispersed around a single large pool that was made up of two ovals, a shallow and deeper one, both shimmering with beautiful blue under-lit water and subdivided by an ornate arched bridge that spanned the gap where the ovals met.

Again, and especially given the peace and tranquillity of the early morning, Ranga knew that she could be content here. Her interest was however not on the facilities available to the hotel guests, it was on a single individual who now stood at the lower rail, in front of an amphitheatre of seats that had been built into the decking, facing out to the ocean, hands raised to his mouth, calling to the Monolithic Sea Mammals.

With silence being her watchword Ranga located the stairs that led to the lower level and edged toward them. By the time she had reached the bottom, it was Pshyco who strode silently but purposefully toward the man.

The black plimsolls that she wore, with their repeated skull and cross bone pattern, were both highly suited to the job and in a macabre sort of way, menacingly appropriate. They masked her sound completely and as she made her devastating move, the Sparkie didn't even know what had hit him.

In order to level the size advantage that the man had over her, Psycho had stood on the built in seating to make her attack. She had reached forward, simultaneously held onto both the man's ears and with a swift single motion that led to a sound reminiscent of a bullet leaving a gun, she lifted and pulled back, snapping the neck bone clean away from the spine.

Immediately the whale call stopped and the man crumpled to the ground like a felled tree. Psycho dusted her hands off and turned away. With any luck she thought she might grab some breakfast from the hotel before she had to leave. There seemed to be plenty and, considering that she had just saved the lives of numerous near extinct animals, a bowl of Weet-Bix and some egg on toast didn't seem too much to ask.

Normally it would be reasonable to expect any self respecting monster to stay dead when they have been killed. However, in the case of this particular inter-dimensional being, that appeared to be an inconvenience that he didn't want to have to deal with. He climbed to his feet and decided, not only to 'not die', but also, to do something about the person who had tried to give him the option.