The next hour or so was a whirlwind of planning and strategizing, with each minute passing by faster than the last. Juniper and Alice went over every detail they know about Chelsea and her powers, trying to come up with a plan to get the upper-hand.

  Finally, just as the clock approached midnight, they had a tentative plan in place.

  It might seem crazy, and in all honesty, it kind of was. But it was the best shot they had at saving Elara and stopping Chelsea.

  "Well," Juniper began, "Stealth missions aren't exactly my thing, but hey, wouldn't hurt to improve on my ninja skills."

  "Did somebody say...ninja?!"

  Juniper eyes went wide in surprise as her head jerked to where the new yet familiar voice came from.

  "Chie...?" she echoed, her voice going up an octave.

  "Yup," Chie answered, that smirk still fixed firmly in place. "In the flesh. Been a while, eh?”

  "Uh, yeah..." Juniper chuckled, still trying to wrap her head around this sudden appearance.

  Then again…considering their current circumstances, it's not the strangest thing that's happened that day.

  Alice's expression mirrored Juniper's own.

  "You two….know each other?" she asked curiously, lifting an eyebrow.

  Chie's smirk didn't waver.

  "Yeah, we do," she said, casually spinning one of her katanas before resheathing it with a sharp click. "We go way back."

  Juniper let out an awkward laugh at that, rubbing the back of her neck like she was suddenly self-conscious about something unspoken between them two (which…maybe there was?).

  Alice noticed this exchange and tilted head slightly in confusion, but decided not to pry further just yet.

  Instead: "So uh...you here to help?"

  Chie nodded, her smirk finally softening into a more serious expression.

  "You bet I'm here to help," she said, crossing her arms across her chest. "No way in hell I'm passing up the chance to go a little ham and kick some ass."

  Juniper's own expression turned more serious as well, a smile of excitement replacing her earlier awkwardness.

  "Good," she said confidently, "we could use all the help we can get."

  Noelle, who's been watching from the sidelines and eyeing Chie's shrimp-like features, asked her: "Hey...what actually are you?”

  Chie’s grin sharpened, like she was delighted by the question.

  "Me?" She gestured to herself with a flourish, her shrimp tail flicking lazily behind her. "Just your friendly neighborhood shrimpy; half human, and half shrimp."

  Juniper muttered under her breath, "More like your neighborhood eldritch gremlin who runs on pure chaos energy and spite."

  Chie gasped dramatically in mock offense, but didn’t deny it.

  Noelle blinked slowly before pressing on, "...Okay...but what kind of shrimp?"

  Chie continued cheerfully: "That would be mantis shrimp~"

  Noelle's eyes widen comically. "MANTIS SHRIMP?! The ‘sea creature that could kill a human in one punch’ shrimp?! That means you're secretly packing a PUNCH strong enough to crater concrete!”

  A devious grin curled at the corners of Chie's mouth at that, her antennae almost wiggling in delight.

  "That's right," she said, her tone taking on a somewhat dangerous edge. "So you better watch out, unless you want to find out firsthand."

  Juniper, ever the voice of reason (not that she'd admit it), rolled her eyes affectionately and gave Chie a playful jab in the arm.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  "Oh come on, Chie," she said. "Don't go around trying to intimidate everyone by flexing your shrimp fists.”

  Chie’s grin widened, her crimson eyes glinting with mischief.

  "Ohhhh~?" she drawled, her shrimp tail flicking like a cat’s. "You want me to punch something? That can be arranged."

  Juniper immediately threw her hands up in surrender.

  "Nope! No no no, we are not testing that theory today!" She pointed accusingly at Chie's fists. "Last time you 'just wanted to see what would happen,' we had to evacuate an entire city block!"

  Alice coughed into her fist, looking vaguely concerned but also...intrigued?

  Noelle just stared in horrified fascination before whispering:

  "...Are mantis shrimp punches actually lethal?"

  Chie tilted her head innocently (a lie).

  "Only if I aim for the ribs~”

  Chie's grin turned feral as she continued: "And on top o' that, being part-mantis shrimp means I have sixteen photorecepters in my eyes compared to an ordinary human's three, so I can see way more colors than any of you gals. It allows me to see ultraviolet, polarized, and visible light! Not only that, but both my eyes also have depth perception, so 3D glasses? Nah, not for me~"

  The trio exchanged looks, a mix of disbelief, horror, and morbid curiosity in their expressions.

  "Sixteen...photorecepters," Alice repeated slowly, like she was trying to wrap her brain around the concept. "So you can see...a crap ton of colors. And in like...3D and everything?!"

  Chie nodded eagerly.

  "You bet," she said proudly. "Ultraviolet, polarized light, and visible light—plus, as I said, I have depth perception too, so any 3D movie or game is a piece o’ cake.”

  Juniper squinted at Chie like she was a puzzle that refused to make sense. "Wait wait wait, if your shrimp eyes are so OP, how come you tripped over that perfectly visible curb last week?"

  Chie's antennae drooped instantly. "SHUT UP! That was one time! And it was dark!" She crossed her arms with an exaggerated pout.

  Alice couldn't help but snort, before immediately slapping a hand over her mouth when Chie shot her a glare. The tension in the room had somehow shifted from "impending rescue mission" to "roasting the half-crustacean ninja."

  Noelle, ever the chaos gremlin herself, decided to poke the shrimp further: "So let me get this straight, you could literally knock out a horse with one punch and see rainbows humans can't even imagine...but stairs are your nemesis?"

  Chie's face flushed crimson (which was impressive given her already reddish complexion). "I SAID IT WAS DARK! Maybe if you pathetic three-photoreceptor peasants could—"

  Juniper suddenly snapped her fingers. "Ohhhh I get it now!" She grinned victoriously. "Your fancy shrimp vision only works underwater, doesn't it? No wonder you keep face-planting on dry land!"

  The resulting screech from Chie made several pigeons abandon their rooftop perch outside. Alice took that as their cue to finally steer things back on track before someone got punched through a wall (probably Juniper).

  "So anyway," Alice interjected loudly while Chie vibrated with rage, "Rescuing Elara. Any brilliant mantis-shrimp-powered ideas?”

  Chie grumbled unhappily about unfair shrimp slander before finally calming down and turning her attention back to the task at hand.

  "Actually..." she began, eyes narrowing into slits. "I do have an idea…"

  The trio exchanged looks, suddenly feeling even more intrigued.

  "Go on," Alice urged, leaning forward.

  Chie cracked her knuckles, which somehow made a sound like snapping crab claws, before pulling out a weathered map from her kimono sleeve. She unfurled it dramatically across the bed, revealing hand-drawn notes marking Chelsea’s known hideouts in smudged red ink.

  "Step one," she declared, jabbing a finger at the map, "we exploit my natural superiority."

  Juniper blinked. "Your…what now?"

  Chie’s grin turned razor-sharp as she tapped one glowing eye. "Ever seen infrared signatures through concrete? No? That’s ‘cause you’re not me." She flicked her antennae toward Alice. "Chelsea left thermal footprints when she gear-zipped outta here. I can track ‘em straight to Elara."

  Noelle inhaled sharply. "That is terrifyingly useful."

  Alice was already nodding along, gears turning in her head (metaphorically this time). "And step two?"

  Chie spun both katanas in lazy arcs before resheathing them with twin clicks, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper:

  "We crash their party…with science.”

  Juniper and Alice leaned in closer, their previous teasing and banter forgotten as the gravity of the situation settled in.

  Noelle was the first to speak up: "Okay, hold on, you actually know science stuff? Like, real science?"

  Chie's expression grew strangely proud, as if the concept of knowing science was a personal achievement for her.

  "Heck yeah I do! I'm a genius, remember?"

  Before either Juniper or Alice could tease their friend about her ego, Chie held up a hand for silence before reaching into a secret compartment in her kimono…

  ...where she pulled out a small, clear pouch full of colorful chemicals and beakers.

  The trio watched with wide eyes as Chie began rummaging through the pouch with an almost childish glee.

  "I have so many secret science projects, you guys don't even know," she babbled, fishing out a test tube filled with a bubbling yellow liquid. "This one's for creating thermite. This one's for making invisible ink. And this one—”

  She pulled out another vial, holding it up to the light to admire the swirling blue contents.

  ", this one's for something super cool and new I’m working on. Wanna see?"

  The trio glanced at each other, the suspense almost too much to bear.

  "Hell yeah we do," Juniper said, the words coming out in a near-whisper as she leaned even closer to Chie.

  Chie's grin was downright feral as she uncorked the vial.

  "Watch closely~"

  With a dramatic flick of her wrist, she poured a single drop onto the floor, and the liquid exploded into a swirling vortex of blue smoke that solidified into...a perfect, shimmering ice sculpture of Elara mid-battle pose.

  Juniper gaped. "HOLY SH—"

  Alice finished for her: "—IT THAT'S AMAZING."

  Noelle reached out to poke it, only for Chie to yank her hand back with a cackle. "Ah-ah! Touch it and your fingers get flash-frozen for an hour!" She wiggled her eyebrows. "Science."

  Juniper was already scribbling notes on her arm with a pen she'd pulled from nowhere. "We are weaponizing this IMMEDIATELY."

  Operation: Shrimpocalypse was officially underway.