[Mafdet Khepri]

Khepri had a problem. Well, they had many problems. One of them was far more urgent than the rest however. Their fish supply had been cut off. No longer were they allowed to import fresh fish en masse from wherever they wanted with the family private jet. Not that they ever were but now a foolproof countermeasure had been implemented they'd yet to find a way around. Use of the private jet now required a form to be submitted and approved. Time and time again Khepri had attempted to find a valid reason only to receive the same reply back. 

'Rejected'

Luckily they'd stumbled upon a fitting proverb. Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. While they'd very much like a lifetime supply of fish Khepri was down one part of the equation. A man. 

So it was that they'd found themselves at Jouma's doorstep armed with a safari outfit, a fisherman's hat, a bucket of bait and a pair of fishing rods. 

"Hi. Did you know the fish in the ocean are free no matter what the government says about sea monsters to scare us off from going to the beach? Wanna catch 'em?"

------

Title reference: Video
Tags: Jouma Joukou

[Jouma Joukou]

Tank top: check.

Khaki shorts: check.

Oil: check.

Theme song: can't take it with him, but check.

Jouma had no major plans for the day. Probably go lift weights, maybe see if there were any of those sparring sessions going on today. There was some redheaded lady offering sessions, and as much as he wasn't about hitting women a spar was a spar. It was possible he could dazzle her with his feats of strength, but he'd have to first leave the room.

And he was not expecting what was on the other side.

This lady(?) was not as tall as him, but he recognized the strong smell of bait. If that wasn't a tell-tale sign enough that this person was going fishing, then he didn't know what was! Their words were cryptic, however. Was that an invitation to go fishing? He leaned against the doorpost, a smirk crossing his face as he looked at the rods. "I wasn't aware that the beach was closed," he says. "Especially since it would take a colossal effort to shut it down. But if it means that I can punch a shark today, then I shall join you in this endeavor!" Was this a date? Nah, women don't ask men out on dates. And he was unsure if this person was a women. Maybe? Questions for later. For now, he had been given a challenge: pile drive a shark.

Mafdet Khepri,

[Mafdet Khepri]

"The beach isn't closed," Khepri replied with a tilt of their head. Why would he think that? They supposed it didn't matter. "If they closed it people would get curious and go there."

By leaving it open the government made sure no one would be interested in breaking the rules by heading to the beach. It was such a dastardly, foolproof plan that Khepri would have been amazed if they didn't forget about it the moment something else took their attention. They nodded in agreement to the rest of what Jouma had said.

"I heard aiming for the nose works best," Khepri added. There was a fair chance they'd run into sharks today. Especially if some of the bigger bait they'd bought did as advertised.

With their plans agreed on Khepri turned around and set off. After an uneventful journey -by Khepri standards- they reached the pier. Looking over the beach Khepri let out a hum. Then she let out a slightly louder hum so they could hear themself over all the shouting and screaming in the distance. Looking at the rowboat they'd rented and then back to the beach and roiling water beyond Khepri blinked.

"We're gonna need a bigger boat."

It was good that they had a senior that owned one. Hero student were supposed to be nice by definition so Khepri was sure she wouldn't mind them borrowing it. Nodding in agreement to their own thoughts they headed for a large fishing boat that didn't belong to Junsuina.

"Hey, you can't be he-" One of the sailors performing maintenance on it began before Khepri cut him off. "It's fine," the catbug replied with a wave of their hand while stepping on board and heading for the edge to set up their fishing equipment. Realizing they'd forgotten about one important part of the proverb they turned to Jouma.

"Hey, do you know how to fish or can I teach you?"

------

Tags: Jouma Joukou

[Jouma Joukou]

"Well, if the beach isn't closed then let's go!" It didn't take much convincing, and if he got to punch a shark along the way then that was even better! What better way to earn your meal than to wrestle it straight out of the sea, and then promptly pile drive it into the sand? Of course, that meant sand would get all over the meal, but that wasn't a problem for him! It was one of life's natural spices!

Granted, the journey to the beach was full of lots of twists and turns. Being hyped to combat sea monsters meant he was ready to go to the place where they were likely to be, so he had to frequently redivert their course away from vending machines and crab stalls. Which was weird, because this was all Khepri's idea anyways. Of course, at some point along the way he introduced himself as, "The Great Machisimo, Jouma Joukou!" Someone needed to know names.

The beach was definitely not as peaceful as he expected. Maybe the rumors that monsters were amuck were true, and as he looked at the little rowboat he had to agree; it wasn't good enough. Thankfully, there was a convenient one not far away that Khepri could acquire. Fantastic! "Hm? I know how to fish," he says, preparing the craft for its journey. "You don't have to worry about that from me!"

Mafdet Khepri,

[Mafdet Khepri]

Khepri nodded in reply. That put a hitch in their plans but it was nothing insurmountable. After all, nothing said the man in question couldn't know how to fish already beforehand.

"I'm gonna teach you anyway."

The fact that they didn't know how to do so themself was unimportant. After all, how hard could it be? There were thousands upon thousands in supermarkets across the globe every day and all of those had to be caught unless they decided to head to the supermarket voluntarily. Khepri didn't know why they'd do that but many things had taken them by surprise in the past and they'd seen people act against their own interests many times when someone sounded convincing enough so they couldn't rule it out entirely.

"Right, you see this dangly hook thing on the end of the rope? That one's gonna go in the sea," they explained patiently as they stood near the edge of the still moored boat. "You're gonna wanna put it just deep enough in the water that this fancy red orb thingie floats on top of it. We need to be able to see that one to know if any fishes bit so make sure you don't throw it so deep that it's underwater unless you have some kind of special sight."

Khepri wondered if he had. They couldn't rule it out. His muscles made him look older so he might just have mastered this adult super vision thing Khepri had heard about but couldn't quite figure out how to do yet. They squinted at the water. Nope, still couldn't do it. Putting that matter aside they continued their explanation as they reached back and swung the rod hard enough for the hook to fly out and hit the water.

"Then we just wait for them to be lured in," the catbug explained as they picked up a handful of bait and threw it at the bobbing red orb above where their hook had hit the water so they could lure the fish towards it. With that settled they decided to make some casual conversation while waiting.

"Oh yeah, I'm Khepri. Mafdet Khepri," they added upon realizing they'd forgotten to reply to his introduction while they were walking to the beach. Khepri blamed the crabs and their inability to use vending machines. "Do you think Pavlov thought about feeding his dogs when he heard a bell ring?

---

Tag: Jouma Joukou

[Jouma Joukou]

A look of confusion spread across Jouma's face at the mention of being taught how to fish again. Did this catbug know some secret that he didn't already possess? No, that was impossible! The internet never lies! Everything he ever learned that was important was from the internet, including how to fish!

And then Khepri began their explanation...and Jouma couldn't help but stare. And then laugh. "You're using a bobber? We're at the sea! You're more likely to loose the bobber than to catch anything with it!" He couldn't help but wipe a tear away, thoroughly amused. "And you need a piece of bait on the hook in order to properly catch something! Here, reel that in, let me help!" He wasn't going to deny the fact that chumming the waters was a good idea, especially at sea. Fish with more sensitive noses would catch on and move to investigate.

He'd lift up his own rod, and taking note of the hook he frowned; he was uncertain if he could catch anything with it without more robust tackle, but he immediately dismissed it. How much of a badass would he be if he caught the biggest fish ever with such pitiful tackle? It was a challenge he couldn't help but relish! "What is a Pavlov? Is that a dog breed?" He'd be preoccupied setting up his rod to notice the bubbles where the bait had landed, multiple sets of eyes beginning to pop up out of the water. "Food?" some strange voice would say, the bobber on Khepri's line vanishing as their line received a hard tug. Very hard.

Mafdet Khepri,

Reference

[Mafdet Khepri]

Khepri blinked in surprise as Jouma laughed and wiped away a tear. They couldn't help but wonder why he thought it worked like that. There was a specially inbuilt string to connect the bobber to the fishing rod, there was no way they could lose it and if they put bait on the hook where would the fish go once it's caught? They weren't trying to pull the bait back up, they were trying to get the fish! Still, ignorant as the man was he'd been nice enough to come along with them so Khepri wouldn't call him out on it. Why, they had just the perfect idea on how to make sure he didn't make a mistake without bruising his ego.

"Yeah, for normal fish. Have you heard of everything weird going on at the beach recently? The normal fish all swam away. We can't use the right method for things out of the left-field. That's the wrong direction."

Khepri knew plenty about directions. They'd tried to navigate using their moral compass once and arrived three days later than they'd intended. Using the right tool for the right job was very important. It was why Khepri really disliked the word goblet. How messed up was it that it meant 'cup' and not 'tiny goblin'?

"Hmm? Nah, he was a dog trainer," Khepri confidently replied just before the rod was nearly janked out of their hands. "See! Got something already!" They hoped it wasn't another barrel with one of those funny marks of a circle with some cornerless triangles in it like the one she'd found when she tried to use a net to catch fish that one time. Even if they didn't think ENRRA would show up all the way here it was bound to be annoying. 

"Yeah, food!" Khepri agreed to the unknown catch's self-assessment. Then they stopped talking as the air was driven out of their lungs when they rammed chest-first into the railing. Their pupils dilated as their grip tightened on the rod and they strained against the railing to pull in a deep breath. "Jouma. On three we need to pull." Khepri's left foot left the ground and settled firmly against the second bar of the railing before her right one wedged just right against the third bar. Activating their quirk the muscles in their legs bulged as much as they could in the moment before Khepri would kick off backwards with as much force as they could manage.

"Three!"

---

Tag: Jouma Joukou

[Jouma Joukou]

Normal fish? Fish were fish, even the kind that had shells or tentacles or whatever! He was unperturbed by the so-called strange fish that had been reported in the bay, as that just meant that whatever was dredged up was good to eat! "It makes no difference, the same methods can be used to catch these 'super fish'. I'll prove it to you-"

He stopped upon hearing Khepri slam into the railing. Was that a normal sound? Had to be, pretty sure his ribs made that noise before against metal. He had to give Khepri credit then, their milk drinking seemed to make strong bones! Although, hearing several more calls of, "Food?" did make him pause, and upon looking over the side he couldn't help but tilt his head. "On three, you say?" He placed his hands on either side of the railing, taking a good six-foot chunk from the top part as it began to dissolve, the segment beginning to reform into a harpoon a dark red in color. "You yank, I'll throw!" He waited, and on three he hurled the harpoon.

Khepri did a good job pulling whatever it was out the water. The only problem with it was this was no fish, but a giant crab. The harpoon embedded into the space between its eyes, a loud shriek coming from it as it tried to get back in the water. Unfortunately, the line was now wrapped around its claw, making for a very unlikely escape. Meanwhile, several smaller crab-like creatures began to appear around the boat, and with the shriek a series of, "Food! Food! Food!" began to come up out of the harbor, many of the creatures swarming with the intent of getting into the boat.

Mafdet Khepri,

[Mafdet Khepri]

Kicking off the railing Khepri pulled with all their strength. The taut fishing line was stretched to its limit and the rod bent almost double. Had it not been for the pair of hands on their shoulders helping them Khepri was sure they wouldn't have been able to pull it out. Or the pair on their arms for that matter. The pair of hands on their sides certainly helped out a lot too.

"We're getting it! Thanks for the help, Jouma. Thanks for the help, many armed tiger shark!" Khepri gratefully shouted with a wide smile. As the grips tightened and kept pulling along with Khepri while they held on tightly to the rod they blinked in realization. "Wait a minute!"

Looking behind themself with wide eyes they stared straight into the sharp-toothed maw of the predator that had dragged itself partway out of the water, half-stuck between the boat and the pier on the other side of the bow.

"You're not a tiger shark, you're a great white! Sorry!"

Their mistake corrected Khepri struggled for traction to continue acquiring their lifetime supply of... crabs? That wasn't right, they were here for fish! Even so they couldn't let go of the rod -they still needed that to get fish!- so their hands clutched tightly around it even as their feet left the ground, their body the center of a tug of war between a giant crab and a mutated shark. This was quite the conundrum.

"Help!" Khepri hissed out through teeth gritted in exertion, refusing to loosen their grip even as the crab was dragged on to the edge of boat and Khepri's back hit the guardrail on the other side, only the crab's shell catching on the same part of the railing that their ribs had been slammed into earlier preventing Khepri from finding out what the bottom of the ocean looked like.

---

Tag: Jouma Joukou

[Jouma Joukou]

Jouma was quite pleased with this. Sure, it was no shark, but-

Wait, what was that about a tiger shark?

He turned, and seeing the mutated monstrosity attempting to pull his compatriot one way while the crab was pulling in another was quite the conundrum! He was not expecting this day to turn out like this, but it was the perfect setup for the best fight of all time! "Ha hah! Look at that, a worthy opponent! Our fight will be legendary!" he grabbed onto another section of rail, this time creating a short pike before handing it off to Khepri. "I must go enact the fight of a lifetime! Once the fight begins you will fly into the maw of that other creature! Jab this into its brain, and we will have a feast like no other come evening!"

With one end of the equation taken care of, he readied himself. While most people will say that 2 + 2 =/= fish, in this particular instance it did! And with a mighty leap Jouma rocketed towards the great white, swinging its fist at its nose in order to stun it. This unfortunate circumstance would also send Khepri in the opposite direction, towards the giant crab. At the very least, nothing else could potentially hurt the boat, except the army of smaller crabs in the water?

Mafdet Khepri,

[Mafdet Khepri]

In a way Khepri envied the shark. Using their two hands the catbug narrowly managed to hold onto the fishing rod so when they let go with one of them it'd likely be yanked out of their grip within moments. If they had another pair of hands it'd be much easier to both hold onto the rod and pull off their lifelong fish plans. While Khepri's method had been different unbeknownst to both them and Jouma they had come to the same conclusion. Two plus two really would be fish!

Accepting the pike Khepri strained with all their might for a second, their fishing rod holding arm feeling like it might tear off, before the shark let go abruptly and they rocketed towards the crab. Khepri could have sworn the giant crab's eye stalks shifted as if widening in surprise, a level of intelligent realization within it the catbug had not been expecting. Were these mutations created by mankind, passed down knowledge compared to how Prometheus in myth had done for humanity? Borrowing from his school of running towards things Khepri kept their feet beneath them and went straight towards the threat despite the fact that every inch of the evil crab's being had focused on killing them the instant the shark had let go.

Jumping up at the last second to avoid the larger of the crab's claws as it tried to crush her Khepri kept enough momentum to jam the pike deep into the gap between the thing's rostrum and carapace. The loud screech the beast let out surprised them. They'd heard from some local fishermen back home that crabs couldn't feel pain. Khepri wondered whether the newfound mutation had changed that.

"Are you feeling it now, Mr. Krabs?"

The only reply they got was a swipe of its shorter claw. Sticking the landing their momentum had set in motion they rammed the pike deeper while knocking the strike off course with the back of their fishing rod. A wooden crack told them exactly how that'd affected their future plan. Unfortunately for the catbug it was knowledge that came a little too late.

Lamenting the loss of their rod they stayed on top of the crab as it was slammed back into the railing and stopped moving, only just now spotting the army of smaller crabs. Given that they'd been following the big one they were likely affected by the mutations as well. Khepri's mind once more wondered whether they had some kind of Prometheus-like figure that gifted them the fire of knowledge and whether they'd come to worship it for doing so. Holding onto the pike for support they straightened upon the corpse of the massive crab and looked down at the crowd of its smaller brethren.

"Who is your god now?"

---

Tag: Jouma Joukou

[Jouma Joukou]

In an instant, Jouma and the shark fell into the water, the surface agitated as the two began their bout near the bottom of the sea. Which, because they weren't that far from the docks, wouldn't be that far underwater.

The army of crabs would turn their focus on Khepri, and began to advance on them with cries of food up until Khepri ask them about their god. This made them all pause, with one voice saying, "God?" which was repeated several times. Though it wouldn't be long before one posed a question: "Hail?"

"Hail?"

"Hail?"

"Hail!"

The newfound chorus of "Hail!"s would sound throughout the docks, something that would no doubt disturb any fishermen nearby.

Meanwhile, the surface of the water would slowly settle, and go still (or at least as still as possible for the ocean), until after a moment or two both Jouma and the shark breached the surface, Jouma clinging onto the shark's back and avoiding its arms while holding a construct of a nasty looking knife. Their fight took them to the bottom, where he found a rock. Most people would just use the rock to try and beat the creature with it, but Jouma was not most people! Instead, he formed a weapon of elegance in order to do proper battle, force the being to a place of his own terms, and then finish the fight! Which was what he was doing right that second as he drove the blade into the creature's neck, causing it to go limp and slump over the side of the boat and nearly tipping it over. "Ha ha! Look at us! Now this is fishing!" He stood over the top of his prey, flexing as he did. Man, he was awesome!

Mafdet Khepri,

[Mafdet Khepri]

Khepri stood tall and proud on top of the giant crab, like Jouma or like a lightning rod atop a skyscraper. A metaphor made more accurate when realization struck the catbug like lightning. The crabs could speak! More importantly, they were willing to answer. Attentively listening to the crustaceans it did not take long for Khepri's mind to draw a wrong conclusion. They sucked in a sharp breath. This revelation had to be brought to the attention of people higher up the ladder immediately. Pulling their phone out they pressed the speed-dial button as fast as they could.

"This is not a good time, Maf-"

"Professor Shirayuki! We've found witnesses who know who's behind all this!"

"What?! Sphinx, come agai-"

"Their name is Doctor Hail. He or she is the one that gave all the crabs vocal cords!"

"Hold on. Sphinx, what are you-" Loud screeches and thudding noises interrupted Mai's words, cutting her off for several seconds before she continued speaking, sounding just a little more out of breath than before. "Find a safe location and stay where you are, we'll reinforce you as soon-"

"Oh no, the witnesses! They're going for the witnesses!" Khepri shouted as they saw a horned eel and a scintillating octopus try to make their way up the boat and towards the crabs. Immediately the catbug dropped the phone and rushed to the rescue. From the discarded phone Mai's voice resounded.

"Sphinx? What happened? Sphinx!? Sphiiiiiinx!"

---

Tag: Jouma Joukou

[Fanthes]

[nospaces]

[attr="class","rc2plotr"]

[attr="class","rc2plotrname"]
✨EVENT SUCCESS!✨

[attr="class","rc2plotrmid"]

[attr="class","rc2plotrmid5"]

[attr="class","rc2plotrmid6"]



✓ So many references! Great job you two!! [break][break]
Khepri - 10 // 85[break]
Jouma - 2.500 // 10.000

+ 75/7500 TOKENS/EXP!

---

Tag: Mafdet Khepri, Jouma Joukou

[googlefont=Montserrat]
[newclass=.rc2plotr]width:450px;padding:9px;border:solid 1px #e61919;background-color:#eeeeee;color:#555555;text-align:center;[/newclass]
[newclass=.rc2plotrname]font:bold 25px Montserrat;color:#ffffff;line-height:25px;text-transform:uppercase;padding:37px 0px;background-color:#e61919;letter-spacing:-1px;[/newclass]
[newclass=.rc2plotrmid]padding:20px;background-color:#f5f5f5;border-bottom:solid 10px #e61919;[/newclass]
[newclass=.rc2plotrimg]width:90px;padding:4px;border:solid 1px #e61919;background-color:#f9f9f9;[/newclass]
[newclass=.rc2plotrmid2]width:90px;padding:4px;border:solid 1px #e61919;background-color:#f9f9f9;margin-top:10px;[/newclass]
[newclass=.rc2plotrmid3]background-color:#e61919;width:90px;font:bold 10px Calibri;color:#ffffff;white-space:nowrap;[/newclass]
[newclass=.rc2plotrmid4]font:15px Oswald;line-height:20px;[/newclass]
[newclass=.rc2plotrmid5]padding:14px;background-color:#f9f9f9;border:solid 1px #e61919;[/newclass]
[newclass=.rc2plotrmid6]padding-right:10px;font:10px Verdana;text-align:justify;[/newclass]
[newclass=.rc2plotrmid6::-webkit-scrollbar-thumb:vertical]background-color: #e61919;[/newclass]
[newclass=.rc2plotrmid6::-webkit-scrollbar]width: 5px;background: transparent;border:solid 1px #e61919;[/newclass]