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Mad Science

Shark Success

added by Alphagor 5 years ago O

The large touring group that included the Dinotopians, Five Elements, and Animalia Ambassadoria weren't the only ones who were seeing the Animalian colonies. Though the other tourists were doing it at their own pace and in a different order. Case in point were Buford and Aleta. The two of them were vacationing at Animalia's more aquatic colonies. They had come down to Vilcabamba first because Aleta was from there. It was certainly a new experience for Aleta who had never seen much of anything outside of the Amazon river. Buford had never been this far south before. But this wasn't all bad for him, especially since this vacation was an extended date for him and Aleta.

Aleta was glad to be able to swim in the Amazon again, even if her style of swimming was different than what it was before. She was also helping Buford become more accustomed with breathing underwater. While the chlorine-free pool back at Lyre was useful, it wasn't the same as swimming in the Amazon itself.

"Just don't think too hard about it," said Aleta, "You're not going to drown or suffocate, especially when I'm here with you."

"That ain't what I'm worried about," said Buford, "I was thinking of all the nasty critters in this river."

"Buford, we're bull sharks," said Aleta pointedly, "There really isn't anything in this river that's a threat to us."

"Ain't just the big fish that's the problem," said Buford, "There are piranhas in these waters and toothpick fish too."

"Piranhas would never attack a bull shark, not unless it's bleeding a lot and dying," said Aleta, "And there's a lot about toothpick fish that's not true."

"Wouldn't stop them from trying to feed on us anyways," said Buford.

"You don't have to worry about them while I'm here," said Aleta, "Just relax and enjoy the water." It was definitely great for her to be back home, but they weren't able to make this trip just because of Horizon's generosity. They have other people paying their bills now.

==========

Buford and Aleta didn't spend all their time in the swimming pool. After all, Buford was going to be in the bodybuilding competition and he couldn't just coast through on the muscles his conversion gave him. He was taking his time to lift weights, soon finding he was already starting to surpass his old maximum. He also spotted Aleta as she worked out. She didn't feel as competitive about this bodybuilding contest as Buford did, but she was understanding why Buford liked working out.

Buford was spotting Aleta on the leg lift (bodybuilding not being exclusive to the upper body) when he saw the guy in the business suit walking towards them. "Excuse me, are you Buford and Aleta?" he asked.

"Don't know of anyone else you could mistake us for," said Buford.

"Yes, I'm representing the interests of Twinlab and we have a proposition for you," said the business man.

Buford might not have been the sharpest guy to come from Missouri, but he was pretty quick to catch on what the guy was offering. It helped that Esteban got a similar offer from Gatorade. "Ya'll want us to sponsor your product?" asked Buford.

"Yes," said the representative, "A pair of sharks like you would be ideal for sponsoring-"

"Hang on. Don't tell me," said Buford, "I remember hearing 'Twinlab' before." He thought it over a moment before snapping his fingers. "That's right. You're the one with that protein powder. I saw the commercial," he said.

"What commercial?" asked Aleta, getting up from the leg lift.

"Hang on, I'll show you," said Buford, looking for the video on his phone. He soon showed it to Aleta. It didn't take Aleta long to start snickering at the shrimpy nerd who was trying to 'bulk up' by covering his arms with meat. She lost it when the nerd grabbed a large sausage for extra 'padding'.

"Humor sells," said the representative, "But you two have a much broader appeal."

"What is protean powder, anyways?" asked Aleta.

"It's a dietary supplement," said Buford, "Gives you extra protean to build up muscles."

"And we've designed a new formula for Animalians," said the representative, bringing out a bottle, "Try it for yourself."

"I'm not sure that stuff would be very tasty for us," said Buford.

"I think you'll be pleasantly surprised," said the representative.

With a shrug, both sharks tasted a bit of the powder. Aleta didn't know what protean powder was supposed to taste like, but she was pleased to find this stuff was rather tasty. Well, it would hardly measure as a snack to her, but it was quite palatable. "Say, this stuff ain't bad," said Buford, "What's the secret?"

The representative beckoned them closer with a finger. The sharks leaned in before he whispered, "The secret is that we squeezed the 'juice' out of lean meat before dehydrating it."

"Oh, clever," said Buford, "More protean and added flavor."

"What do you do with the vegetarian Animalians?" asked Aleta.

"That's still a work in progress," said the representative, "But would you two consider endorsing this product?"

"Well, I've endorsed a couple of things in my day," said Buford, "I think this would be as good stuff to start endorsing as any."

"If Buford is ok with it, than so am I," said Aleta.

==========

Twinlab was good to their word. Once Buford and Aleta had sighed up to endorse the Shark's Blood protean powder (the name being a work in progress), they got quite a bit of money to keep the sharks afloat for a while. There were other things to this as well. There was bound to be some commercials and they'll need to compete in the A-BC. But a visit to the colonies wasn't out of the question before the competition.

Surfacing again, Aleta and Buford squeezed the water out of their gills. While it was possible to talk to each other underwater, the ambient sounds in the river could make it a bit hard to hear. And talking above water requires emptying their gills so they wouldn't gargle their words.

"I think I'm getting the hang of this," said Buford.

"Of course you are," said Aleta, "You're a bull shark."

"I can't wait to go to Mieni Atoll so we swim in saltwater," said Buford.

"We don't have to wait until we're at Mieni," said Aleta, "The Amazon does empty into the ocean."

"Well, yes, but it's a very long swim, even for us," said Burford, "Besides, I think we'd freak out a lot of the locals."

"True," said Aleta, "The reason I got uplifted was because I frightened some fishermen."

"Well, we can at least go to Manaus," said Buford.

"I think I might be interested in that," said Alta. She wanted to see more than just the Amazon, but the people who live so close to it.


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