章節 21: Chapter 17: Pufferfish
Well here is the continuation of the previous chapter, god how difficult is it for an AI to obey only the instruction to translate? When I was doing the translation to English I did part of it with AI but the bitch started to write a text totally different from what I wrote, so I translated this "a raja tabla" (I don't know if you have this expression in English). Well apart from that you already know it, leave comments and power stones.
The Pizza family arrived at the beach area where Adrián and I were waiting for them. I stepped forward, greeting them enthusiastically as I tried to soften Kofi's serious expression.
"Hi!" I said cheerfully, with a wide smile.
"Hello, Nora," Kiki and Jenny responded in unison, returning my smile.
"How has your day been?" I asked, maintaining my smile. Next to me, Adrián raised his hand in a subtle greeting, almost murmuring his "Hello."
Kofi, however, replied with a tense and serious expression that made me frown, though I tried not to show it too much. "The pizzeria closed today because it's bankrupt," he announced, his dry voice hanging in the air, heavy as a cloud. I felt my smile falter for a moment as discomfort grew within me.
Adrián, beside me, first raised an eyebrow and then sighed, slapping his face before shaking his head quickly, as if he couldn't believe what he'd just heard.
"H-ho… um… that sounds... aah," I stammered, my mind desperately searching for something positive to say, but my tongue seemed to have gotten stuck. Fortunately, Nanefua, Kofi's mother, came to my rescue, quickly diverting the topic.
"Is that a hamburger I smell? Show me where they are!" she exclaimed, opening her arms with that broad, confident smile characteristic of older people.
"Oh, yes... here, friends, come with me," I responded quickly, grateful to shift the conversation. I made a wide gesture, pointing to the tables where we had prepared hamburgers and other food. Before I could finish guiding them, I remembered the introductions and, with a small cough, said,
"But first, let me introduce you to…" However, I was interrupted by Garnet, who suddenly stepped forward and, with a firm and resonant voice, began the introduction.
"We are the Crystal Gems!" she exclaimed, looking at all of us with determination before pausing dramatically.
Adrián let out a brief, nearly inaudible laugh beside me. I nudged him lightly in the arm to calm down, though I couldn't help but let a smile appear on my face.
"Garnet," she introduced herself with authority, and at that moment, she was enveloped in bright light. When the light faded, her outfit had changed: she wore a dark red swimsuit with salmon-colored trim, accompanied by a black sarong with red accents. The transformation was so majestic that Nanefua whispered, "Oh…" impressed by the scene.
"Amethyst," she exclaimed herself, stepping forward, wrapped in the same magical light that covered her from head to toe. When the light disappeared, her look was casual yet stylish: bluish shorts and a dark purple top matched with a green fanny pack resting on her hip.
"Pearl," she introduced herself while moving gracefully. The same light surrounded her, and as it dissipated, it revealed her new outfit: a delicate light blue beach dress with white shoulder pads that added a refined touch.
"I wish I could do that," I murmured to myself, amazed by what I had just witnessed.
"Did I accidentally travel to Sailor Moon or what?" I heard Adrián murmur, a mix of wonder and humor in his voice. I didn't understand what he meant, but seeing his amused expression made me laugh a little, momentarily forgetting my nerves.
Nanefua clapped softly. "How talented you all are!" she exclaimed, her eyes shining with childlike wonder.
Kofi, however, scoffed and rolled his eyes. "That's like a circus act," he said disinterestedly, crossing his arms.
Pearl and Amethyst exchanged a puzzled glance, both murmuring in unison, "A circus act?"
To avoid the atmosphere getting tense, I quickly interrupted. "Let's eat!" I exclaimed, forcing a smile as I guided them toward the hamburger table, hoping the food would help ease the situation.
We were already seated, and the food was on the table; to my right was Pearl, to her right Garnet, then Amethyst, followed by Jenny, Kofi, Nanefua, Kiki, and finally, on my left, was Adrián.
"They turned out really well," Kiki said, referring to the hamburgers.
"Thanks, Kiki," Adrián and I responded in unison.
For some reason, Jenny kept looking at both of us with a Cheshire cat smile. That look made me uneasy for some reason, but Nanefua pulled me out of that moment.
"Don't you have any hunger?" she asked Pearl and Garnet. "You haven't touched your food," to which Pearl replied.
"We don't need to eat," she said, though Nanefua continued without much surprise. "These youngsters and their experimental diets."
"Actually…" I was about to say something, but Garnet interjected.
Adrián just gave me a pitying look for not being able to speak without being interrupted.
"I'm much older than you," Garnet said.
Continuing the thread of the conversation, Kofi said, "So you all live in that little house in the mountain."
"We reside in the inner sanctuary, only accessible through extra-dimensional magical doors," Garnet replied, her hand glowing with a mystical light.
"Because it looks like it's about to fall apart," Jenny commented while chewing.
"Well, the temple has been here for a long time," Pearl replied.
"Ah, now I understand," Kofi said. "When something here breaks, you leave it like that… LIKE the sign of my store."
I didn't like where this was going, I thought.
…
Fortunately, Nora was able to calm the situation, but that discussion returned when the volleyball matches were already ending.
"This doesn't look good," I said to Nora, who looked visibly uncomfortable with the situation.
"It can still be fixed," she told me, hope in her voice.
I sighed at what she said but replied, "I think you're right."
Then Nora went out to retrieve the ball that had flown away because of Pearl. It wasn't long before she came back shouting while the wind pushed everything strongly. Ah, the gem monster has arrived, I thought with a bit of obviousness.
What wasn't obvious was that besides expelling air pressure, she was also launching what seemed to be cuts of wind.
"a" was all I could say upon seeing it, while I focused on preventing her from killing someone with those wind blades. Which would be easy if she only shot a few, but the damn thing was firing dozens at a time and wouldn't stop; the sand flew in all directions, making it hard to see. God, seeing every damn grain of sand in 64k doesn't help.
The sand was flying everywhere, and the monster wouldn't stop. To be completely honest, it didn't pose a real threat to me or the gems, but those blades could easily slice through a normal person, and there were normal people here.
As if reading my mind, the gems took the Pizza family to put them in a safe place and deal with the monster while it focused on attacking me.
"Attack, you noobs! I'll tank" I said half-jokingly and half-seriously. Although I doubt anyone heard that with all that wind.
At that moment, Nora was holding Nanefua, while Pearl had Kiki, Amethyst had Jenny, and Garnet had Kofi. As for me, I was making sure the pufferfish monster didn't focus on them; besides, I was protecting the most important thing of all… the food table, of course.
I saw Nanefua whisper something to Nora while pulling her away from the battle. Then she shouted something in my direction, but the damn wind drowned out her words. Still, I understood from her gestures what she needed.
I formed a good-sized semi-material sphere and threw it to Amethyst, who launched it into the air with force. Meanwhile, Pearl and Nora had taken the volleyball net, aided by Jenny, Kofi, and Kiki. Garnet jumped high and, with a hammer-like strike, launched the sphere directly at the monster, which was still distracted by me and was being held by Nora and Pearl with the volleyball net.
The sphere, now burning due to its falling speed, illuminated the sky as it descended. The pufferfish, sensing its death approaching, tried to expel more compressed air, but I made sure to cancel any gusts of air it tried to expel, so I didn't move throughout the battle, focused on maintaining control.
Finally, after a few microseconds that felt like hours with my heightened perception, the sphere impacted against the monster, bursting into smoke and leaving behind a medium-sized crystal and a glass structure created by the heat of the impact. The sphere ended up disintegrating when I stopped supplying it with power. Everything was over, and Nora ran toward me.
"Are you okay?" she asked, visibly worried, getting closer to inspect me.
"Hey, hey, I appreciate the concern, but I'm fine," I replied, which seemed to reassure her.
She let out a sigh of relief as the others approached. Pearl looked incredibly frustrated for some reason. Jenny's gaze flicked rapidly between Nora and me, wearing a Cheshire cat smile that I preferred not to question. Kiki had stars in her eyes, Nanefua was also smiling like a Cheshire cat, Garnet maintained her stoic expression, and Amethyst had an amused look. Finally, Kofi looked genuinely grateful.
…
"Thank you for your hospitality," Kofi said. But Nanefua, not satisfied, elbowed him, and he added, "And for saving my family. I officially authorize you to go to my pizzeria," he said, breaking into a smile.
That made me very happy, as it seemed that finally there were no more problems between the gems and the Pizza family.
"Thank you very much, Kofi," I said, as a smile spread across my face. "We really appreciate it, right, girls?" I added, looking at Pearl, Amethyst, and Garnet.
"Yeah, thanks," Garnet said.
"Where were we forbidden to go?" Pearl added.
"Uh, haha," I laughed awkwardly.
"Well, Nora, it was fun hanging out with you guys, but I have to go," Adrian said, starting to walk away. When I turned to say goodbye, he returned a brief, friendly smile, and that made me feel a little more at ease; I waved goodbye.
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