Echo Echo Echo

[ĸara вelova★]

Stage II had begun. Morgan was lead to the main hall, where a vast pool stretching from wall to wall awaited. The water was murky, and it was impossible to determine how deep it was. Something was moving about in it - many somethings - but the water was too cloudy to confess what lurked beneath the surface.

On the other side of the pool was a wall containing three black doors, clearly labeled with green, ominous numbers 1, 2, and 3. Nothing hinted at what could await within. Large, mechanical hinges promised that opening these doors would be a very difficult task indeed. However, in the center of each door was a keyhole.

"Morgan, welcome to Stage II! Right now you have three points under your belt! Somewhere in the water there are three keys, each with a number. These keys open the doors you see ahead. Each door leads to a challenging obstacle, and each of the obstacles are worth one point. Only the contestants with the top four scores will proceed to the final Stage. You were given a safety word before you arrived. Should you wish to abandon an obstacle, you must shout the word, and that point will be forfeited! You may start when you are ready!"

This time there was no audience, aside from the cameras positioned around the hall. Morgan was alone, and the door behind them shut and locked.

"You can always back out now..." The disembodied voice suggested over the speakers, "...I wouldn't blame you if you have Stage Fright..."

[morg]

"Well, gee, shame they didn't make it too hard or anything,' muttered Morgan. She leaned over the water, peering into the depths. Disgusting water, swimming, for that matter. well, it wasn't like she couldn't manage that, but if there was something dangerous in there... Morgan couldn't very well fight underwater, and something too fast could end it there.

"Sure as hell don't have stage fright though," she muttered. Reaching out, she lightly tapped the surface of the water, watching the ripples spread out. No way around this, going to have to get wet and nasty.

The girl quickly reached for her hair, deft hands weaving a tight braid. Soon as that was finished, Morgan perched over the water, taking a perfect diving stance before launching in. The girl's movement would make most Olympiads jealous, of course, and she swam like a fish the moment she hit. Her eyes scanned for keys, for movement, for anything that wasn't murk and water..

[ĸara вelova★]

The ripples on the water's surface came as a surprise to the underwater dwellers. Morgan would be able to see them flee from the movement, but slowly inch forward. By the time Morgan dove in, the creatures were examining the spot where the ripples originated from. When she plunged into the water, they scattered again.

Because the water was too murky for a clear image, the cameras recording the subsurface action were thermal imaging cameras. They captured heat signatures, and when Morgan swam across the screen, she was a series of warm colours. But she wasn't the only warm life form in the water. The squirming animals who fled once more when Morgan arrived were slowly climbing into the screen. They wriggled forward to examine the newcomer, and individually assessed her threat by bumping into her extremities.

The water would be too murky for Morgan to get a clear grasp of where she was in the pool, but the keys at the bottom were illuminated from below. To her right she would see the faint glow of the closest key, but it was another five feet deeper. The grime in the water would soon irritate her eyes, and unless she had protective eye lenses, she would have to voluntarily render herself blind. Still, if she swam directly over the key, the light would softly illuminate her eyelids, allowing her to estimate where exactly she should swipe.

[morg]

Wonderful, little things of some kind were brushing against Morgan with every movement. At least they hadn't started to do anything, yet. She was betting they burned or irritated or itched or something. So far things had been far too benign, even with the disgusting water. Just thinking about that made Morgan want to take a shower.

She just caught sight of the closest key, making mental note of its location. As soon as she did, she moved her body into position, kicking fast and with practiced skill. her eyes narrowed as she dove, hoping that the water wouldn't do too much damage. Should be a way to clear it, at least, Morgan was hoping. She kicked hard, fast, angling for the key, moving like, well, a champion Olympic swimmer.

There were some advantages to perfectly imitating whatever you could see. made her wish she had a mermaid tail and fins though; that would make these a breeze...

[ĸara вelova★]

The camera caught Morgan reaching out for something at the bottom. The animals followed next to her, as though adopting her into their school of wriggly creatures. Later in the editing department they would add a key in, and show Morgan's hand closing around it.

As the girl's fingers wrapped around the key, the door to the right glowed. Morgan had found Key 3, and was able to face her first obstacle.

The MC would do voice-overs later as the cameras in the area changed angles and prepared for Morgan to surface. The underwater camera kept rolling, prepared to catch any subsurface discrepancy. Morgan might be good enough to swim in the Olympics, but even Olympic divers didn't have to deal with long, squirmy fishies. Whenever Morgan decided was time to surface, she would collide with her 'schoolmates' swimming above her. The shocked elongated fish skittered away when something large brushed their bellies.

They didn't like Morgan Cavan anymore.

[morg]

Air.

The most important thing in the world to Morgan right now was something that simple. She'd tucked the key away into her shirt, trusting things to keep it more or less in place. Barring something strange, which in here wouldn't be all that unusual, the key should stay where placed. Least of Morgan's worries right now though.

For now she worked her way to the surface, noting the fish's reactions to her. To her credit, she fought down the initial panic that occurred as they started thrashing about. Panicking wouldn't do anyone any good. Did feel a bit like a good idea about now. Instead, Morgan wove her way around the fish, closing her eyes and going mostly by instinct as she worked her way to the surface.

Assuming the fish didn't stop her, Morgan would break through sooner or later. And when she did, her eyes would fly open and she'd begin digging water out of them. However, she had a plan that might just mess with the plans a little bit. First though, she needed to blink away the grime and hope the fishes didn't get antsy enough to start nibbling.

"Morgan is friend, not food," muttered the girl, hoping and praying.

[ĸara вelova★]

The cameras caught Morgan resurfacing amidst a not-so-calm surface. All around her there were ripples of varying sizes from all the frenzied fish. Morgan just needed to swim to the other side and pull herself out of the pool...

The underwater camera picked up something funny. A small red, soundless explosion illuminated the water ten feet from where Morgan surfaced. Then it happened again, five feet away. If Morgan looked behind her, she would see stunned or dead eels float to the surface, belly-up.

Apparently there was something more dangerous than nibbling fishes in the water.

"Hey Morgan, I'd get out of the water if I were you. Just sayin'." The voice that gave her the rules so formally earlier spoke up again. He sounded a little sarcastic, and more than a little taunting.

[morg]

Explosions, which meant that they weren't just playing around with fishes. They wanted her to do this thing their way, jump through the hoops. Morgan had to admit, given all the explosions and such, it was a very tempting offer. But she'd have to crawl out of the water, then somehow manage to get back in. Chances were that whatever was causing the explosions would still be there when she got back.

She tred water for a few moments, before swimming quickly for an edge. As soon as she could reach one, she'd pull herself out over the water. From there, she could work the water out of her eyes, ridding her vision of that filth. The larger idea was to figure out what the hell was causing explosions and making this even more difficult. Had to be some way around it, this competition most likely wouldn't rig things to be too difficult... unless she'd done far better than she'd expected.

Unlikely, with Leo and Kenneth in the competition.

"Time to play the waiting game,' muttered Morgan, scanning water.

[ĸara вelova★]

((The 'explosions' don't have any sound, and only show up on the underwater heat lenses. Morgan would notice fish dying, but the water doesn't really get disturbed by what's happening. Maybe it wasn't the best word to use, but it's describing a visual of what's happening on the heat cameras. If you want to edit your reply, I'll edit this one accordingly. Don't feel like you have to though, it was my mistake to not describe it better.))

Morgan's surveillance would prove fruitless. Whatever was causing the fish to die was too deep beneath the foggy water to give the searching girl any hints. However, now that Morgan was out of the water, the eels stopped dying off. If she was examining really closely, she would see the entire school of eels flee across the pool en mass as a giant dark blob below the surface.

Meanwhile, Door Three continued to pulse in that signature green light, begging for the same attention Morgan was giving the now calm waters. Nothing interesting was happening there. The door kept glowing. Morgan's wet shoes were surrounded in a puddle of lake water, dripping from her sodden clothes.

"You know, the water isn't going to get you any points," The young MC teased, "It doesn't even count for a point. This is nothing compared to what you'll have to face next." You could almost hear the taunting smile in his words.

[morg]

OoC: gah, it's fine, just some miscommunication. still likely to have seen a flare, which is what it seems was what you were going for. Not really going to change Morgan's actions in the long run though, so might as well keep it as is

Nothing really surprising came to Morgan's attention. which meant that whatever was in there probably reacted to her, or movement or something. whatever it was, she wasn't about to simply jump through the game's hoops. Not until she was positive she had to do so, at any rate. No, she had a very good plan in mind...

She made certain the key she had was secure enough that an act of God would be about the only thing to disturb it. She muttered a distinct "blah, blah, no one finds you that interesting, loser," to whomever kept taunting her, before diving into the water again. Morgan's strokes were less powerful, and she moved almost frog-like through the water, determined to find the other keys. The first one had glowed, so likely the others did too. Find the glowing bits, aim, and get this stupid water games over with. Last thing Morgan wanted was to have to play dive through the murky depths while tired...

[ĸara вelova★]

Morgan was right to assume the other keys would glow. To her right was another illuminated area.

It was smart, to retrieve all the keys first. Morgan would be the first to do so in the competition. However, fish have short memories, and giving them time to forget their recent trauma with her might have been a better idea. So when she dove back into the water, her earlier 'attack' still fresh in their minds, they were still frightened and a little peeved. Plus there was that thing killing the other eels...

As Morgan navigated through the thick water, the underwater camera showed those red sparks, the same colour as Morgan's hot body propelling closer and closer. The two red masses were moving toward each other, one blinking sporadically. When it wasn't surrounded in red heat, it was a brighter ribbon than the rest of the eels. Vibrant orange, whereas the rest of the fish were yellowy-toned. There was something different about this eel, and any who came in contact with it found out what it was soon enough.

Morgan would become one of those who fell victim to its glow. The young electric eel senses Morgan as she frog-swam closer, and immediately feeling the threat of a larger enemy, it emitted a sharp electric shock. It spread, the largest of its red blasts to be recorded on the camera to date, enough to stun its prey. Had the eel been an adult, Morgan would be done for. But due to its early age, she would not die. She'd just be...

"Ooh, that's gotta sting! Anyone have one of those pool skimmers? We may need to fish Morgan Cavan out of there!" The announcer sounded more than delighted to comment on this turn of events. Perhaps he heard Morgan's grumbling before she jumped in. Whatever compelled him to be so thrilled about this news, it sounded like he might volunteer to remove her from the competition himself. "It's not like the dead eels didn't warn you!"

Luckily for Morgan, she was one of the favourites in the competition, so the producers would most likely edit the commentator's taunting words out of the playback. Instead, the cameras beneath the surface zoomed in to Morgan's stunned form. The electric eel fled after its miniature explosion.

[morg]

The girl had been so focused on getting the keys that she hadn't paused to think too strongly about the consequences, or whatever else might be waiting for her in the water. However, she was lucky enough to have been slightly relaxed before the shock passed, as her body knew better than to tense in water.

The shock still stunned the girl, making her gasp. Water and muck shot into her lungs then, adding to the unpleasant feelings and sensations. Somehow, Morgan managed to stay conscious, if just barely. Stamina built from years of physical training probably helped in that regard. Still, her body locked up, and she wound up floating to the top, sputtering all the way. Besides, she didn't move at first, her muscles rigid.

After a few seconds of waiting, Morgan began stiffly working her way to the edge, silently cursing the speaker and already planning how many different ways she was going to hurt him when she got her hands on him. Assuming she managed to actually make it to the edge, Morgan would then pull herself out, moving to just short of the pool for a rest. The lost time would hurt greatly, but moving on while feeling like this would be worse.

"Stupid fish," she muttered, closing her eyes as she tried to think of a way of getting around the shockers that awaited her.