2020 has had an unusually active hurricane season. In fact, it's been the second most active hurricane season for the Atlantic Ocean on record. This was do a La Nina effect which fueled more storms. There were so many storms that they've used up the standards names and were using Greek names for them. Though fortunately, despite damages, the numbers of death were relatively pretty low. Even so, September was a particularly busy month for storms.
One of those storms, Tropical Storm Beta, made an impact on Skull Island. It didn't make landfall there, but it definitely whipped up the island with powerful winds as it passed by. Fortunately, the buildings were designed with hurricanes in mind so the inhabitants mainly had to bunker down for about a day.
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"Well, isn't this just a bonny day," said Nessa in a very dry tone as she heard the wind howl outside, "Shoulda stayed in Scotland. It'd be better there."
"Maybe my knowledge of geography is incomplete, but isn't Scotland known to have inclement weather pretty often?" asked Ty.
"Aye, we never had any hurricanes up there," said Nessa, "Sure, we had bad storms, but at least ya can leave yer house without flyin'."
"Just be glad we're not being hit directly," said Ty, "It would be much worse devastation. We're lucky enough to have power."
"Please don't jinx it," said Miki.
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One might assume fish underwater were safe from storms on the surface. But that was only if the fish were deep enough. There was enough power in the winds to cause some big waves and create a lot of turmoil beneath the surface. Even sea creatures needed to take shelter from big storms.
The coelacanth sisters, Maya and Darla, thought they could escape the tedium of Skull Islands with a deep sea swim, thinking they could easily swim low enough to not be bother by the storm. Though frankly, they had to hug the bottom of the ocean floor to keep from being tumbled about. Eventually, they turned back in.
Danielle was there to greet them. "Rough swim?" she asked.
"Didn't expect it to churn up the sea so much," said Darla, "We've never had problems with storms before we were uplifted."
"Well, you used to live in pretty deep waters," said Daniella, "The Caribbean Sea is shallower than that."
"Yeah, saw a lot of fish being tossed around. Especially those spiky ones," said Maya.
"What spiky ones?" asked Danielle.
"The ones with long fins and red and white stripes," said Maya.
Danielle sighed and said, "Oh great, lionfish. That's all we need."
"What's so bad about lionfish?" asked Darla.
"They're an invasive species around here," said Danielle, "They have no natural predators around here and they eat up a lot of fish on the reefs. Just our luck some of them get swept out here."
"Should we uplift them?" asked Darla.
"I don't think so," said Danielle, "There would be way too many and I'm pretty sure they won't like the idea of people culling their kind."
"So what does eat lionfish?" asked Maya.
"Well, they're high up in the food chain and their spines are venomous, so not many fish. I think moray eels and sharks eat them, but not so many of them around here. I think I hear that people are training barracudas to hunt them," said Danielle.
"Maybe that's what we need around here," said Maya.
Danielle thought it over and said, "That may not be a bad idea. But we may need to wait until this hurricane season blows over."
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Despite the storm raging above, some work was still be done. Molly, as the first and so-far only Animalian to catch Covid-19, was extremely important for research for a vaccine. Fortunately for her, being an Animalian gave her a stronger immune system. Yes, she did feel weak and achy while she was sick, but she had been getting stronger every day. By all indications, she seemed to have fully recovered from it now.
"So does this mean I'm immune now?" asked Molly.
"Not quite," said the scientist working with her, "Your body may have a stronger defense against another infection, but I wouldn't say it's something you only get once."
"So how are we supposed to get a vaccine?" asked Molly.
"It's quite simple, really. Now that your body has recovered, we will inject with a weakened sample of the coronavirus. Your immune system should recognize it from before and be able to produce antibodies against it. You may suffer a few minor symptoms, but nothing that should last long. Once you've recovered, we'll do it again and again until you show no signs of sickness. Then we'll talk blood samples, isolate the antibodies you've produced, and cultivate them. Of course, we'll have to continue testing on more volunteers to make sure we've got something viable and to check for side effects."
"What side effects?" asked Molly.
"Well, first thing to consider is that you're an Animalian," said the scientist, "The antibodies we cultivate from you are most likely not fit for the human system, not without causing a conversion. The most probably scenario is that this particular vaccine will only be available for other Animalians."
"Well, at least we'll be safe from getting infected or spreading the infection around," said Molly, "I mean, it's not like we can get converted again."
"About that, there's also a chance that this vaccine may act as a second dose of Animalian virus," said the scientist.
"Oh, I see," said Molly. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing. A second dose would cause an Animalian to be restored to their prime. Plenty of people were wanting conversion in order to have their youth back. The only problem would be young Animalians who would be accelerated to their primes. Sure, many kids were in a rush to grow up, but their parents may not be so eager to have their children skip their childhoods.
"Of course, there's still plenty of trials before we can say we're close to distributing this vaccine for Animalians," said the scientist.
"Say, am I going to get a medal for this or something?" asked Molly, "I mean, I want to help Animalia as much as I can, but I think I deserve some form of recognition for all I'm going through for this."
"That's...not up to me," said the scientist, "But if I know Animalia, they'll be certain to award you something."
Molly sighed and said, "Well, there ought to be something. Not looking forward to so many needles."