Sting Like a Ray

 The next few minutes passed like a blur. Sticking next to Phoebe, Camellia tried to make use of the techniques she had learned, but an actual life-or-death situation was a different beast (or, fish) compared to a training dummy.

Something about these barracudas felt different to Camellia, too. They were far faster than she expected, exceeding the top speed she had learned about in school. One would zip in to try and make a bite at her arm, and it was gone before she could slash it back.

Their speed was almost to their detriment, however, as they swam too fast to do any lasting damage. The worst they had been able to achieve so far was a few small scratches. Still, the evasive capabilities of these fish were astounding, and they swooped in and out chaotically, one at a time, to attack the humans.

Her companions appeared to have less trouble, accustomed to the blinding speed — perhaps those fish actually had magic, with that faint trail of light behind them, Camellia realized. That would explain the unnatural agility. Lynn did say that their enemies, too, were blessed by minor deities.

Damos held his sword before him, ready to counterattack. One rushed at him, and he thrust at it, aiming to skewer the barracuda. But it was too fast, and his sword caught nothing but its magical afterimage.

Can’t get distracted, Camellia thought. She frantically spun around, searching for any approaching fish. One that had just made a pass at her was circling back.

She focused. What could she do? What was the right plan of action? What were these things weak to?

They rely on the element of surprise. That and those teeth.

She saw Damos, out of the corner of her eye, whiff another attack and grunt in frustration.

But they’re so fast that I can’t react.

The fish dashed and made for a bite at her arm, but Camellia had seen it coming and pulled her arm back just in time.

Close one.

Wait.

The barracuda looped around in a wide arc again.

If they rely on surprising their prey…

It aimed its head at her and ramped the speed up once more.

Then the solution is to surprise them back!

She readied her dagger again, though this time, she wound her leg muscles up, preparing to leap.

Aha, I see, a preemptive strike. Brilliant, Camellia! Seems like you’ll get use of that degree after all.

It’s gotta be a clean cut, though. And fast.

The barracuda shot itself at Camellia. Expecting this, she immediately jumped forward, bringing her dagger down with a huge slash, praying that her aim — and her timing — was true.

Cleanly slicing right down the middle of its head, Camellia's dagger struck to the core. The body, carried by inertia, slammed Camellia into the sand.

But the thing was dead.

Phoebe hollered behind her, “Cam, you good?”

She pushed the dead fish off of her, startled by its sheer size. It had to be well over a meter in length, and it was heavy. “Yeah! I’m good,” Camellia replied. Heh, I am good.

Way to go, Camellia. You should be proud.

Only fifteen more to go.

Propping herself up on her elbows behind her, Camellia realized that she had gotten slightly separated from the group as she defended herself. She took a moment to catch her breath. The legion of barracudas, now one fewer, swarmed her friends in a circular fashion, dashing in and out around them, a tornado of scales and teeth. One moved to attack Lynn, and—

Lynn! She was using her aspect. Her arms, clad in those fantastic gauntlets, glowed the same muted green as she had in the temple. Except there was no spectral, sharp-edged form around them, like the one Lynn had shown to Camellia. No, instead they looked like chitinous blocks of ghostly flesh. They reminded Camellia of boxing gloves, with that rounded shape and bulbous edge. What was her aspect?

Right as the fish was about to reach Lynn, she brought up her hands in a flash, blocking her face from the barracuda’s attack. The predator slammed into the wall at top speed, crumpling against it. Lynn barely moved, her feet planted firmly in the sand. The fish, meanwhile, floated to the ground, dead.

Amazing.

A cry of frustration tore Camellia's attention away from Lynn. “Alright, I’m done playin’ nice, this shit is annoying,” Phoebe snarled. “Time to get real.” After focusing for a moment, she yelled and, just as when she had fought Damos, two giant purple ghost tentacles exploded from her shoulders.

This time, however, she held on to her weapon and extended the tentacles instead, increasing their length. As one of the barracudas whizzed by, she whipped the tentacle out and snatched it up in, coiling the extra limb tightly around its long body. A moment later, it went limp, constricted to death.

Dropping the fishy corpse, she dashed forward, yelling a command, “Lynn, get a big one ready!”

A big one?

“On it,” Lynn responded, running to follow Phoebe. As she did, Phoebe used her giant tentacles to snatch every barracuda around them, plucking them out of the tornado with the right and handing them over to the left. The left tentacle held onto a writhing, wriggling mass of fish, constricted tightly in place. Oh, they can’t slip out because of the suckers.

While Phoebe gathered the giant fish, Lynn followed, holding her right arm close to her chest. The weird boxing glove thing had faded from her left hand, but her right steadily glowed brighter and brighter.

As Phoebe wrangled the last barracuda, she stopped and held the entire school out to her side, then turned her face away and scrunched her eyes closed. What is she so scared of?

Lynn, too, stopped, standing directly in front of the mass of fish which Phoebe presented to her. She pulled away, angling her body sideways while looking at the barracuda.

Camellia watched her take a deep breath and wind her arm back.

It was almost too fast to see what happened next.

In an instant, she swung her fist, snapping it forward, her arm flashing a fantastically green light. Then, as soon as she had brought it forward, her arm was back in position, ready to punch again.

The enemies, trapped in Phoebe’s tentacles, simply exploded outwards, away from Lynn in a mesmerizing scattershot of viscera. There was a startling aftershock, a flash of light and a burst of bubbles at the spot she had punched, a secondary explosion that blew away any remaining targets. The barracuda all disappeared, rocketing up and away from Lynn in a wide arc of… well, we needn’t be too graphic. The pieces of their former enemies had been shotgunned out and away, some almost even reaching the surface.

All commotion disappeared in an instant. The plains went silent, and Camellia lay stunned in the sand.